The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie
by Pookie2
Summary: The Final Chapter is finally up! The story comes to an end as the group fights for Hallow Bastion...and the universe! All of the earlier chapters have been formatted as well. Enjoy!
1. Episode 1

Hello. I just wanted to set some ground rules before I started. In Kingdom Hearts, the Final Fantasy characters are cameos. Cameos that all come from the same world. So, instead of writing some big, elaborate dealy, I've decided that if Square and Disney want to disregard stuff, so will I.

Both stories of FF7 and FF8 happened to the characters that they were supposed to happen to. I'm also ignoring that certain people are dead or crazy. So...take it as it is and don't yell at me.

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Okay, in case you're wondering what the deal is; this will be a continuing story of Leon and Yuffie. It is not a love story by any means, in fact, this whole thing started as an answer to those stories. Also, it's kinda AUish, as in most characters are a little exaggerated.

Rated for future swearing and violence

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie: Episode #1:

The Trouble with Moogles .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

A cool breeze lazily blew on Leon's face as he stood by the item shop of Traverse Town. He thought to himself as he watched people go about their business. He thought about what had happened to him in the last few months. The heartless had attacked his home, pushing everyone out and making it their headquarters. He had barely escaped, but none of his friends had…not even Rinoa.

He had ended up in Traverse Town, finding a few others from his world who escaped. They had banded together, for if no other reason than to be near someone who reminded them of what they lost. Leon had been in silent agony then, not knowing what happened to everyone he loved. It wasn't until King Mickey had talked to him and Aerith that his life took purpose again.

The king had informed him that there was possibly a way to restore things as they had been. If they could find the keyblade and it's wielder, they could lock the Kingdom Hearts and restore the worlds to what they were. The king had told them to keep a look out, and asked that Leon watched over the citizens of Traverse Town.

Until he found the answers, or the key, he swore off his name. It sickened him that the man who bore his former name could do nothing to protect his friends. He wouldn't bear it until he set things right. He would find answers.

"Excewes me mwista Weon, can you get my kitty off of that woof," came a voice from behind him. Leon's eyelids lowered.

Until he found the answers, he still had to put up with the citizens of this town.

_I miss Ultemicia... _Leon looked over at a small boy, who pointed to a cat who sat on the roof of the store Leon was standing by. Leon's eyes narrowed, that suspiciously looked like one of the alley cats that kept him up all night singing. He looked at the boy again, who made a pitiful face.

Leon sighed heavily and climbed up the boxes near the store and got on the roof. He reached for the cat, who backed up. Growling, Leon lunged, grabbing the cat and falling off the roof. When he landed, the cat scratched him and ran off with the boy, both laughing.

The SeeD sighed again, picking himself off the ground. As he brushed the dust from his pants, he saw Yuffie sneaking out of the item shop, carrying a box. She was moving around carefully, trying to make sure no one noticed her.

"…"

Looking closer, Leon saw that the box was marked, 'Potions: Property of Huey, Dewey, Louie.'

"….Yuffie." At that, the ninja stopped, looking around.

"Give it back." The girl noticed Leon and smiled sheepishly.

"I just bought them." She batted her eyelashes. Leon groaned and grabbed her arm, leading her like a child back to the triplet ducks' shop.

When the two went in, all three ducks saw the box, and all three glared at Yuffie. Hewey spoke up,

"Thanks Leon. She's made off with stuff of ours before." At that, Leon looked down at her, glaring. She giggled a little, took a step back, then bolted out of the door.

Leon ran after her through the town. The ninja was quick, but the SeeD knew how to track people. He nearly caught her, but she suddenly turned. In her hands was the same cat he had 'rescued' earlier. She threw it at Leon, and it immediately started clawing his head.

Prying the cat off, Leon looked around, and found the girl was gone. He grumbled and dropped the cat, who hissed and ran off. Rolling his eyes, Leon went back to his hotel room.

**. o . o .**

"_Whinny the Pooh, whinny the,"_ _**click**_

"_Beauty and the," __**click**_

"_When you wish upon a,"_ _**click**_

"_A whole new,"_ _**click**_

"_The History Channel proudly presents: the battle of Pride Rock"_ _**click**_

"_You've think you've seen them before, think again!! Princesses Gone Wild 4!"_ _**click**_

Leon threw the remote at the TV. It bounced of and landed at the floor. The SeeD stood from his chair and stretched. He grabbed his gunblade, deciding take a stroll through town and make sure that no one was in trouble. He was nearly hit by the door as it swung open. Fuming, Yuffie stamped in.

"Stupid Moogles!!" she screamed, kicking over a chair. Leon looked at his now broken chair and glared at the ninja.

"That was my favorite chair…" The girl didn't seem to notice that, instead she turned over an ottoman.

"They tricked me into buying a blaze shard beard trimmer! What am I going to do with that?!"

"…"

"I used all my hard-earned money buying it!" She threw all the covers off Leon's bed as he straightened.

"What hard-earned money?" Yuffie stopped in mid-kick towards the nightstand at his tone. She looked sheepishly at him.

"I um…got a job?"

"Doing what?"

"Investment banking."

Leon rolled his eyes. "On an unrelated subject, what happened to the 50gil that was on my dresser?"

"Umm…I don't know…," The ninja shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well, gotta go…trim…my beard."

"Yuffie..." Leon's tone didn't sound friendly. Yuffie stopped and handed him the trimmer. He left and headed for the Moogles' shop, grumbling.

Yuffie noticed that Leon had forgotten to lock his door. Grinning, she let herself in and started digging around his things. He seemed to have locked most of his cabinets, but she noted his underwear drawer was open. In it, she found a small ring.

**. o . o .**

Leon stood outside the Moogles' shop, preparing. The seasoned SeeD veteran knew that the Moogles would do whatever they could to trick him into buying something. Even he couldn't withstand their powers of adorableness. Taking a deep breath, he walked in.

Mosh, the ringleader, first noticed Leon's entrance. "Leon! Hello, kupo!"

"Hey…I just came to return this," he said, holding the item up. At that, all three of the Moogles in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up. They all fluttered over, faces concerned. Moorock moved closer to Leon, eyes large.

"What is wrong with our wares?"

"Nothing." Leon tried to remain strong. "I just want my money back." That didn't seem to please them. Mogrika jumped up.

"If you didn't want it, why did you buy it?!" The little Moogle glared at the SeeD, creeping him out slightly.

"I didn't buy it…Yuffie stole money from me and did. I just want it back." The Moogles all looked at each other again. Mosh floated closer.

"But, we worked on our wares so hard…we hoped you'd like it anyway." He wiggled his ears and nose.

Moorock also came closer.

"Have we shown you the new lucid shard gunblade polish?" The red ball on his head seemed to grow larger. Leon shook his head.

"Isn't it just normal sword polish?"

Mogrika moved closer. They all now formed a semi-circle around Leon, wiggling their noses and ears. The Moogle spoke up.

"Perhaps, but there is an image of a gunblade on it, so as not to be confused."

"…"

"I heard," started Moorock, "that it makes gunblades SO shiny, that heartless flee when they look at them."

"…."

"We got this item just for you," Mosh now spoke, "We got it for you, because you help keep our home and store safe. We hope you'd like it."

"…..I'll take three." Leon bought the polish and went for the door. As he reached for the handle, he stopped, realizing what the Moogles had done.

"….DAMMIT!!" He stormed out as the Moogles giggled.

As he left, Leon looked to his right, and dove just in time as Doom Train came rolling down the alley, taking out a wall of another store as it went by. Leon got up, brushing off his pants and watching the train go. If memory served him, his Solomon ring was supposed to be in his underwear drawer. He didn't recall it ever going off on its own.

He ran for his room and opened the door. Inside, Yuffie was wearing his favorite boxers over her shorts and dancing about the room. She stopped when she saw him, face going pale.

"Um…I'm….Squall-woman..?"

"……"

"Heh heh….gotta go!" She started for the door. Leon grabbed his gunblade and went after her, furious. She bolted out the door, boxers still on her. Through Traverse Town they ran, nearly knocking over the elderly and children in their way. As Leon turned one corner, Doom Train was bearing down on him.

"!!!!" Leon jumped out of the way at the last moment, landing ungracefully on his backside. Before he could stand, he felt something jump on his chest. He looked up, and saw a well-dressed cricket there.

"Hello! I'm Jiminy Cricket, the royal court's recorder, you

remember me, right?"

"…"

"I'm here to be your conscience!"

"….."

"So from now on, you'll be taking orders from me!"

"……."

"Let's go save some cats from trees!"

"…..I have to do something first." Leon got up.

Jiminy jumped on his shoulder.

"Okay, let's go!"

"…." Leon ran towards where he last saw Yuffie. He quickly found her, and drew his gunblade.

Jiminy jumped up. "What are you doing?!"

Leon sneered. "I'm going to kill her."

"Woah now, let's not be silly. Ha haaa…"

"I'm not, I'm really going to kill her." As Leon started for the ninja, Jiminy cracked him in the face with his umbrella.

"Ow!!"

"You can't kill her!" he hit him again.

"Okay! But we have to stop Doom Train."

At that, Jiminy sat back down on Leon's shoulder. "Okay! Let's go!"

"…" The SeeD found Yuffie skipping the street, she was counting money. Leon grabbed her.

"Give it back."

She looked at him funny. "Give what back?"

"The ring."

"Oh." She fished it out of her pocket and handed it to him. Leon quickly put on the ring and called off Doom Train as it was about to take out Cid's shop. He sighed, taking the ring off. At this point, Yuffie went back to skipping and counting money. Leon noted his boxers were gone and grabbed her. She jumped this time.

"Hey! It's not your money!"

"Who's is it?"

"Old Lady Midchin's." She pointed to an elderly lady, who was holding Leon's boxers and winking at him.

"………"

**End of Episode #1**

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Enjoy it? I hope so. More to come later if I get a good response.

Remember, reviewing is what makes the sun shine…if reviews were actually gas combustions…

…just please review.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Gummi Adventure **


	2. Episode 2

Hello…cough….it's been a few months…but I'm back, and I have a freaky-long chapter this time. Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and I forgot last time:

I don't own any SquareEnix or Disney characters.

I don't know if that's actually legally needed…I'll check into it later. Anyway, enjoy.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie  
Episode 2: The Gummi Adventure .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon mulled over his choice of potions at the item shop. He had been bored out of his mind lately, the heartless seemed to have left the town alone for the last week. With nothing else to have to deal with, little matters were becoming more important.

"….Blue or Green potions? …. Hm." He looked up when he heard the duck proprietors chatter about a set of marbles they had recently acquired. The dark colored balls did seem to be of a higher quality than their earlier set. Huey mentioned that he hoped their uncle would find them more 'neat stuff.'

Leon frowned, he had met their Uncle Donald when he had first talked to the king, he did not recall him being the trinket giving type. Shaking his head, he looked back at the shelf of potions. I've never tried the green…

The SeeD finally purchased two blue and a green potion and left the shop. As he stepped out of the building, he heard the squeal of metal on rock coming from the direction of Cid's shop. He dropped all three potions as he found the source of the noise.

Before him the Ragnarok was being dragged to Cid's Gummi store. The massive ship seemed to have damage to the hull, one of the 'hands' was missing a claw, but it was definitely his space ship that was being towed to the gummi shop. Leon ran over, potions forgotten.

"Where did you find the Ragnarok?" He asked Cid. The older man looked up from a clipboard.

"Space. Where'd you find that ninja who keeps following you around?"

"Hell…" Leon replied. "That's my ship."

"It's whoever wins the auction's ship, son," Cid laughed, going back to his clipboard and looking over the damages to the hull.

Leon frowned, "How much do you expect to sell it for?" Leon tried to recall just how much money he had managed to hide from Yuffie.

Cid laughed again. "Well, that all depend on how much you and McDuck want it."

"Who?"

Leon's attention was directed further down the street. A duck with a top hat was giving Huey, Dewey and Louie candy. He started fanning himself with money as he walked over to Cid and Leon, grinning.

"Hello lads, getting my ship ready?"

Leon glared, "That's MY ship."

McDuck started laughing. "Ah, Laddy, maybe you don't know who I am." The duck held out a hand. "Scrooge McDuck."

Leon stared at the hand indignantly. McDuck withdrew, unfazed. "I plan to fix this old thing up and go after a few pieces of treasure."

Leon looked at the wad of money the duck had been fanning himself with. It was more than he had made as SeeD commander for a month. "How much are you willing to pay for it?"

Scrooge laughed. "Laddy, you never give your strategy away ahead of time."

**. o . o .**

Yuffie had noticed the gigantic ship being towed by Cid. Grinning, she snuck towards the shop. Just as she suspected, there was enough commotion to distract anyone from her sneaking. She went in.

Behind the counter, in a small box (with a crappy lock), she found a gummi piece. Attached was a small card. "Caution: this gummi is extremely dangerous and awesome," it read.

"Extremely awesome?" the ninja wondered aloud. Yuffie took the gummi and went back outside, looking around for something to try it on.

She remembered the ship in front of Cid's.

**. o . o .**

Cid was standing in front of the Ragnarok as the bidding began. Leon looked glum. He had managed to get together three thousand gil for the auction. Hopefully Scrooge wouldn't want his ship that bad.

"All right, the bidding starts at a hundred gil," Cid said. Leon raised his hand to bid.

Scrooge looked at him, then his wallet, then at Cid. "Twenty Thousand."

**. o . o .**

Yuffie placed the gummy piece on the Ragnarok's hull. Nothing happened.

"What a piece of junk…WOW!" she exclaimed as the ship started to change.

The crowd gasped as the huge dragon-shaped ship lurched and came to life. Its color changed to green with purple wings. The crowd made a few 'oos' and 'awws' at the friendly-looking dragon. It smiled at the crowd, eliciting a few more 'awws.'

The huge dragon looked down at the crowd again, then let out a roar loud enough to break the glass of surrounding building's windows. It sunk it's claws into the ground and started taking a deep breath.

Leon didn't like the way that looked. "EVERYONE RUN!!"

The citizens looked at him, confused.

He glared and yelled at them to go again. They began to back away, but finally started to run as the dragon's nose began shooting fire. It looked at the running crowd and spewed fire from it's mouth after them. Then it turned to Leon, glaring.

The SeeD gritted his teeth and drew his gunblade. It was times like this he really missed his Lion Heart blade. The dragon brought its head down, aiming to grab Leon with its teeth. Jumping out of the way, Leon dodged again as the dragon continued to bite at him. On one attempt, the gunbladist dodged and quickly jumped onto the huge neck of the monster. Trying to ignore the fact that he was about to attack his own ship, he brought his blade down hard into the dragon's flesh.

It roared and thrashed, knocking Leon off his feet. Trying to stay on the dragon, Leon grabbed a lump in the monster's skin. It felt squishy. He looked up and found that it was actually a gummi piece. A gummi piece that couldn't support his weight. He let out a yelp as he went flying off, landing on a stack of boxes, gummi in hand.

The dragon stopped moving suddenly and started turning back into the ship it had been. The people who had stuck around to see what happened, sighed in relief. Leon slowly got to his feet, rubbing his head where it hit a box. He walked over to the ship, leaving the forgotten gummi on the ground. Yuffie snuck over as everyone went to see if Leon was okay.

Scrooge McDuck looked up at the 'neck' of the ship, which had moved as a real dragon in a way the ship was unable to, and was now mangled. A few other spots on the body were freshly damaged as well.

"I withdraw my bid," said McDuck, putting away his money. Cid jumped as he did.

"You can't do that!" Cid yelled, balling his fists.

"I bid on a slightly damaged ship, not this mangled mess," the millionaire duck stated, adjusting his hat. Cid glared, but said nothing. The former astronaut looked at Leon, who for the first time since he got to Traverse town, smiled.

"I bid 100 gil," the SeeD stated. Cid glared and grabbed the money out of Leon's hand, giving him the key card to the ship. Leon was pleased, until he looked at the wreckage.

Yuffie snuck away, gummi piece in hand. Losing interest in it, she randomly slapped it on a mail box as she walked by. A moment later, the box shifted and moved, then stilled itself as a man went to mail a letter. There was a short yelp as he was eaten by the mail box.

**. o . o .**

Leon was still looking at his ruined ship, thinking about how long he'd have to work off the debt to fix it. He hoped Cid would just let him pay it off in labor, but he got the feeling the man would prefer money.

"Ah Laddy, who's gonna pay for all those repairs?" McDuck had yet to leave, glancing between the SeeD and his ship.

"I guess I will…" Leon's frown returned. He wouldn't have money like that for years.

McDuck walked towards the ship again, looking it over. He then turned to an angry Cid.

"How much to fully repair this thing?"

Cid immediately perked up. "I don't know…. around say, twenty thousand?"

The duck's grin grew, he turned back to Leon, who was looking even less happy. "Tell you what, I'll pay for the repairs, if you run a few…errands for me."

"What kind of 'errands'?" asked Leon, still looking unhappy.

"Just a few treasure hunts. I'm sure the citizens of this town can survive without you for a few weeks." Leon's frown stayed where it was.

_I'm supposed to watch this town…_ he mulled, However, I'm also supposed to find out about the keyblade… I suppose I could find information if I go. He looked at the duck, frown still apparent on his face.

"Fine, I'll go."

Scrooge McDuck grinned broadly, rubbing his hands together. "I knew you would, Laddy."

**. o . o .**

Three weeks and twenty thousand in repairs later, the Ragnarok was space ready. Leon didn't smile, but was pleased. He wondered if Selphie would have been happy with the new gummi additions.

"Ah Laddy, I see it's ready to go," McDuck walked up from behind, "We can finally start the first treasure hunt."

"First?" Leon said, frowning. The duck laughed.

"Yes, first. You never specifically said how many missions you're to go on." Leon glowered at the duck, who smiled, again unfazed.

"Don't worry, Laddy, I know you have other business to attend to. It's just a little treasure hunt here and there." Leon's scowl didn't fade, but he was relieved to hear that Scrooge had half a clue of his importance to the town's safety.

"Now, our first stop is going to be Agrabah. We are going to recover the ancient 'Eye of the Tiger'."

"What's that?"

Scrooge fixed his hat, smiling broadly. "It's a diamond the size of your hand."

Leon's eyebrows raised at that. "That's worth more than twenty thousand gil," The gunbladist glared.

McDuck smiled. "And a percentage finder's fee will be deducted from your debt… of course, with added interest from this loan, it may take you a while to pay it all back."

Leon's glare grew colder. McDuck didn't seem to notice and fixed his hat again.

"Go pack. Remember, we're going into the desert."

**. o . o .**

Leon stood in the cockpit of the Ragnarok. He mulled over the controls, fairly confident he could fly the spaceship that had saved his life all those years ago. He thought a moment about that time, and shook his head. He had other things to worry about now…

"Ready to go?"

…mainly McDuck's bidding.

The gunbladist nodded and began powering up the ship. As the metal doors started to close, a lone figure snuck aboard. Yuffie rubbed her hands together, having overheard Leon talk about the diamond he was to go find earlier. The ninja snuck into the meeting area of the ship and looked around.

Bored, she poked at a gummi piece that had been added to the ship. She looked around and quickly took a bite.

"Mmm….gummi."

The ship took off as she contemplated eating more.

**. o . o .**

Dry, searing desert greeted Leon as he opened the Ragnarok's hatch. Scrooge handed him a map and a few supplies. Leon frowned.

"I thought you were going with?"

McDuck laughed, "No no, Laddy, this is your end of the bargain. I'm going to stay here and watch the ship."

Leon looked at the map, it displayed a nearby town and the temple beyond it. He looked at the duck again. "How dangerous is this temple?"

Scrooge chuckled. "Nothing you can't handle." With that, the Ragnarok's hatch closed. Leon groaned and started walking toward the nearest town. Yuffie had managed to sneak out and was now slowly following him, still drooling about the diamond and leaving a spit trail.

A large city met Leon's eyes as the sun reached the top of the sky. He moved into the bustling marketplace and contemplated getting some information about the temple. He approached a vendor selling fruit. The vendor looked up at him, glancing at his clothing and back at him.

"What would you like?" he held up a basket. "I have the finest dates to offer."

Leon tried not to scowl and shook his head. "I need to know about the temple of the Survivor."

The man nearly dropped his dates. He glanced around quickly and leaned closer to Leon. "What do you want to know about the sacred temple?" the man asked in a hushed tone.

"I need to know how to get there, how to get in… everything,"

The man frowned. "What will you give me?"

Leon fished a rock out of his pocket. "This shiny rock?"

"…Deal."

**. o . o .**

Aladdin the professional thief had been enjoying a few 'borrowed' fruits on a rooftop when he heard an interesting conversation below him. Looking over the ledge, he found a man in strange clothing talking to the vendor he had just 'borrowed' from. Abu squeaked at him, inquiring as to what he was looking at.

"Looks like some stranger's treasure hunting," Aladdin explained to his pet monkey. The monkey peeked over the edge as well. He squeaked again.

"Doesn't look like he's from around here," the thief commented.

"The temple is a dangerous one, full of traps. No man has come out alive who has entered," The vendor continued.

At hearing his words, the stranger frowned further. "What kind of traps?"

"Doesn't sound like he's from around here either," Aladdin added. He looked back down.

The vendor had finished explaining that he didn't know of the temple's dangers and warned the man not to venture into such a foolish endeavor. The man scowled and thanked him for his time, leaving. Aladdin jumped down from the building's roof, following the strange man.

"Come on, Abu, let's find out what this guy's up to."

**. o . o .**

Elsewhere, another thief was wondering around the town. Yuffie milled about, waiting for Leon to leave the town and move on to the temple. Her stomach growled, and she looked around, spotting a cart full of dates. Grinning, she checked the merchant once and grabbed a few, walking off with them.

She popped them into her mouth, grinning. Soon the dates where gone, and the ninja's patients with them. She groaned as she saw Leon looking at his map again. Time to speed things up Looking around again, Yuffie found a cart with a few different colors of cloth, she grinned and artfully grabbed one away while the vendor wasn't looking.

She quickly snuck up to Leon and poked his right shoulder. The SeeD looked up and to the right. While he did, Yuffie draped the cloth on the other arm, quickly and smoothly enough for Leon not to notice. She quickly got away and poked a woman near the cloth cart.

"That man stole from that guy!" she said to the woman, who looked and quickly alerted the cloth cart's proprietor.

"THEIF!!" the man yelled, pointing to Leon. Leon looked over, and saw people coming his way. He looked down at his arm, where a piece of thin pink cloth now hung. He looked up, confused, and found more people coming his way. He threw down the cloth and ran.

"Finally!" Yuffie started after Leon, who quickly made his way out of town and towards the temple, loosing the people chasing him rather quickly. The ninja followed, grinning.

**. o . o .**

Leon looked at stone walls all around him. There were symbols he didn't understand, explained by writing under them that he understood less. He groaned and started in, gunblade out. He walked into the next room, stepping on a tile that slid into the ground as he did.

"…" He jumped out of the way as a pillar fell out of the ceiling and slammed into the tile. The SeeD looked up and saw that the room was under at least twenty more pillars. Leon took a deep breath and sprung forward. Running in a zigzag pattern, he managed to dodge all the pillars and make it to the doorway at the other end.

He looked back at the room as part of the floor fell. The SeeD stood and turned to face the room he was now in, and was met by a punch in the face. Leon fell back into the first room and scrambled to his feet, jumping through the doorway again as another pillar nearly crushed him.

Leon looked up to see a huge heartless swing down at him. He rolled out of the way, baffled as to why a heartless was in Agrabah. He decided to mull on it later as the rounded heartless threw a barrel at him.

Ducking, the SeeD finally noticed the room he was in: there was a single narrow path to the next door in a straight line. Below the path was blackness. Leon looked up to see another fist coming at him. He jumped back and then charged forward, swinging his gunblade as hard as he could. The huge figure teetered on its large feet as the blow knocked him off balance. Leon pulled the trigger of his weapon. The heartless made a roaring noise as it fell to the blackness below.

**. o . o .**

As Leon moved on, Aladdin walked into the temple. He strolled into the first room, seeing all the traps that had been triggered by Leon. He looked to the side, where there was a door that Leon had presumably missed. He went through it slowly and found it was a simple hall. He walked through it, Abu following him.

As he reached the end, a lever and a gold elephant on a pedestal greeted them. _Don't like the look of that_, the thief thought, but at that point, Abu had already grabbed the elephant. The lever started moving down, and the room shook.

"!!"

The walls of the room were starting to close in. Aladdin grabbed his pet and jumped out of the room quickly, running down the hall. Before the opening to the pillar room closed, the thief jumped through. He panted for a moment, then glared down at his monkey, who meekly backed away.

Getting up, the man found that there was a catwalk above him. He climbed up one of the pillars and got on it, walking into the next room and following Leon.

**. o . o .**

Meanwhile, Leon swung his gunblade into three small heartless at once, sending them flying. One crashed into a lever, which lowered and caused a noise that sounded like gears

turning. Spikes started coming out of the walls and ceiling.

"…"

The remaining four heartless started for the SeeD, heedless of their own safety. Leon started running, then jumped and slammed his weapon down on the first heartless. He quickly dislodged the blade from the ground and rolled forward, swinging as he came to his feet, taking out two more. At this point the spikes had almost reached the center of the room. Leon jumped over the last heartless and through the door. The spikes crashed together moments later.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie started into the temple. She had found another opening that neither thief or SeeD had noticed. Before her was a long corridor with a few pictures on the wall.

"Some 'dangerous temple protected by the gods,'" she remarked as she casually walked along the path, stealing a few trinkets as she did, and finding no adverse response.

**. o . o .**

Leon looked at the room he was in. Light from openings in the walls made a pattern on the floor. Picking up a stone from the floor, he tossed it into the room. As the stone passed through the light, arrows shot from the wall into it, breaking the rock into pieces.

"…"

Leon heard a screech and turned around. A mean looking heartless had dropped from the ceiling and was coming towards him. There was no way to fight the thing and not get shot by the arrows. The heartless jumped at him, and he leapt up, landing on the monster's shoulders. He pushed off and jumped over the pattern in the floor, tumbling through the doorway to the next room.

As he rolled forward, a panel in the floor slid open, and Leon fell through. He slid down the rock slide for at least a full minute before tumbling to a stop in another room. Coughing, he shook the sand out his hair and put a hand on the ground to lever himself up. He heard a clink and looked at his hand, which was on a pile of gold coins.

Looking up, Leon found he was in a treasure vault.

**. o . o .**

Aladdin had watched as Leon fell through the floor. Worrying for the man's safety, he jumped from his spot on the catwalk and slid down a pillar to the place Leon had fallen through. As he got to it, the tile slid back over, sealing him away from the slope.

Frowning, the thief looked up, now noticing a light up ahead. His jaw dropped when he saw the gold that was reflecting into his eyes.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie continued to trudge down the path, bored. She walked into another doorway and found a large pool-like area. Still bored, she moved on, not noticing the heartless that was following her. As she left the room, she found that she was in a treasure room. Her eyes lit up, and she threw the previously collected items over her shoulder, hitting the heartless into the pool as it was about to grab her.

**. o . o .**

Leon continued his search for the diamond. He stepped into another room, this one full of gems. Wandering further in, he found a pillar bathed in torch light. There were three buttons on the pillar. One with a picture of what seemed to be fire burning a person, another with a picture of a tiger eating someone and a last of what looked like a person getting pecked to death by a flock of birds.

"…"

Deciding on the only one that made any sense, he pressed the picture with the tiger. He heard levers move and a wall on the far end opened. Leon readied his gunblade.

The wall finished opening, and what looked like the skeleton of a tiger collapsed inside the chamber that had opened. Leon frowned and moved to it. It was indeed long dead.

Beyond the remains Leon found a pedestal with a large diamond on it. He looked at the tiger again and went to the diamond.

He picked it up, and the ground began to shake.

**. o . o .**

Aladdin felt the ground shake as he grabbed another handful of gold. Dust came out of the walls as he stood from the pile he was rooting through.

"Abu, let's get out of here!" The monkey nodded and grabbed a few rubies. As the thief and the monkey ran through the pillar room, one of the fallen pillars fell in the door way, blocking the path save the very top.

Aladdin looked at the treasure in his arms. There was no way he could get through with it all.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie had finished stuffing all the gold she could in her surprisingly stretchy shorts and was now loading her top with gems. Satisfied, she started back out of the temple. As she left the opening, she felt a gentle tremble in the ground.

"I didn't know deserts had earthquakes…" She shrugged and started back for the Ragnarok.

**. o . o .**

Leon ran through the treasure rooms, searching for a way out of the crumbling building. He found a small door in a corner and ran through it. Soon he found himself in the pillar room, watching a man dump an armful of gold and jump through the hole at the top of the doorway. Clutching the diamond, Leon followed.

Outside, Leon glared at the thief. "Who are you?"

The man brushed himself off and looked at the temple as it fell. "Out of a lot of money." He started back for the town. Leon rubbed his forehead and followed, the diamond still firmly hidden in his hand.

**. o . o .**

"I got it," Leon said, entering the Ragnarok. He held out the diamond for Scrooge, but it was snapped away. Leon growled and pulled his weapon at the sight of the ninja stowaway.

She backed up. "H-hey now…what would that cricket say?"

Leon's eyebrows knitted. "…Cricket?….CRICKET!" He pulled a bottle out of his pocket and opened it. A very angry Jiminy spilled out and immediately started attacking Leon's face with his umbrella.

Yuffie, who was laughing too hard at the attacked SeeD, failed to notice McDuck grab the diamond out of her hand and tuck it into his vest. He then chuckled at the sight of the cricket bashing Leon's face.

**. o . o .**

Elsewhere, Aladdin moped in his hideout. He sighed, thinking about all the things he was going to buy with the gold underneath the rubble of the temple. Abu walked up to him, grinning.

"What are you so happy about?" the little monkey grinned again and held out a jewel he had kept in his vest. Aladdin stood up and hugging his pet.

"All right Abu!"

**End of Episode #2**

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Like it, I hope so. Hopefully I won't take so long with the next one. Thanks again to my editor. And thank YOU for writing a review…that is…if you want to. Tell you what, if I get enough reviews I'll put everyone's favorite silver-haired, Masamune-wielding, nut case in. Don't let me down ;)

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Jiminy Leaves, or Leon Goes Drinkin' **


	3. Episode 3

Sweet Christmas, an update that took a mere month? Well, this story shot out of me so fast I couldn't hold it in. As for my ONE review, come on people, you're killing me. And Noey, your suggestion is noted, keep an eye out for it in the coming chapters (I have a plan).

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode # 3: Jiminy Leaves, or Leon goes drinkin' .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon had found that any mirth that had seeped its way into his soul had been leaving him again. There was little to be happy about where he was, or the situation he was in. Everywhere there was danger, everywhere another obstacle. Few things were of a light nature. Of course, the universe had a way of lightening even the darkest of moods.

Leon appreciated this as he laughed at Yuffie, who was now covered in tar. The Moogles had become unhappy with the ninja-related theft in their store, and had set a trap for their sticky-fingered problem. The SeeD commander nearly fell over laughing as the feather portion of the trap hit the fallen ninja.

Jiminy Cricket, on the other hand, was not pleased with the turn of events concerning the now tarred and feathered ninja. "Leon, you have to help her!"

Finally controlling himself, Leon stood, about to speak. Cid, who had wandered over to find the source of all the commotion, piped up before he got the chance. "Yeah, help pluck Sideshow." Leon fell over at this, laughing hard enough to appear to be in pain.

"THAT'S IT!!" shouted the cricket, jumping off of Leon's shoulder, "I'm done being your conscience! You never listen to me, and you keep trying to kill Yuffie!" Without another word, the cricket walked off.

Cid and Leon looked at each other and started laughing again. "Come on Leon, let's go get drunk," the astronaut said.

Leon grinned and stood, conscience lost. "Sure."

**. o . o .**

"Ungrateful … I can't understand why he wouldn't take my advice!" Jiminy Cricket wandered about, deep in though. He couldn't fathom Leon's actions.

"Well, I'm just going to have to find someone else to guide as their conscience." At that, the tiny insect looked up, having not noticed where he'd been going in quite sometime. Tan stone walls were all around him, pillars and columns holding up the large structure he was in.

"I must be in the Coliseum!" the cricket chirped. "There must be someone who's in need of guidance!" Jiminy looked around, and heard scuffling and a few cries. Scurrying as fast as his tiny legs could take him, he ran over to the noise.

A man dressed in black with long silver hair was before him. He cackled, holding his prey by the collar.

"On a throne of blood I will reign!" Sephiroth cackled and shook the child in his grasp.

"Now, hand over your milk money!" The boy sniffled and gave him the munny bill he had been holding. The ex-general dropped the child and turned to the vending machine next to him, inserting the bill. The bill shot back out. Sephiroth pulled out the bill and flattened the edge, putting it back in. It was spit out again.

A short while later, the glow of the vending machine's smoldering remains softly died out.

Jiminy Cricket smiled. He had found his new pupil.

**. o . o .**

At Steamboat Willie's, Traverse Town's only tavern, Leon and Cid sat at the bar. Cid ordered as Leon looked around. The grimy confines of the bar left no confusion as to why Leon spent little time in this dive. He pushed the thought aside as his first ale of the night was placed before him.

"It's on me tonight, kid. Drink up," Cid laughed, taking a swig of his own glass. Leon drank, deciding to celebrate the absence of the cricket. As he and Cid started draining glasses, the bar's normal customers started filing in.

Long after night had fallen, the door opened again, and there was a surprised gasp from one of the locals. Leon turned to see King Mickey and his magician duck enter the bar. He stopped himself from slapping his forehead. The last thing he wanted to deal with was the overly friendly mouse and probably another lection on good behavior.

" A round for everyone, on me," said the king

.

Then again…

**. o . o .**

Former General Sephiroth was busy cleaning his huge blade when Jiminy Cricket jumped on his shoulder. The silver-haired man absent-mindedly brushed the cricket off him as he continued polishing the steel before him. The cricket landed with a tiny thud.

"Ow!" he squeaked, attracting the attention of the man above him.

Looking down, Sephiroth frowned. "Another talking animal…" He moved his foot to squish the cricket when it spoke up.

"Wait! I'm going to be your conscience!!"

Sephiroth stopped and gasped. "Conscience?... Then I can be a real boy!" He scooped up the cricket and placed him on his shoulder.

Jiminy looked at the plainly 'real' man. "Um…yeah. What are you up to?" he inquired.

Sephiroth picked his newly polished blade. "We paint the sky in blood tonight!!"

"Ho ho! Why don't we just bake a cake?"

"…Okay!!"

**. o . o .**

"GO! GO! GO! GO!" the patrons of Steamboat Willie's chanted as Leon, Cid, and King Mickey all chugged down another round of ale. Donald grumbled angrily, having picked the short straw and dubbed 'designated driver' for the night. Six rounds after the decision, the king dubbed him 'royal designated driver' hoping to raise his spirits. The attempt failed and the duck glared at anyone who dared go near him.

Leon was unable to believe how much beer the mouse could put away. The well-built SeeD was starting to slow down, and Cid was in worse condition than him. The King, however, seemed to be merely tipsy from the alcohol in his system.

The door of the tavern was suddenly flung open, and a loud groan erupted from Donald. Leon turned to see Scrooge McDuck, his 'employer,' barge in.

"Crap." Leon didn't realize he said out loud. The Duck approached the three drinking and glared at them all. Leon braced for an assignment.

"How could you go to the bar without me?!" the top-hated duck exclaimed, primarily at the king.

Mickey giggled a little. "Sorry, forgot you were in town." That didn't seem to calm the duck.

Cid slapped him on the back and hiccupped. "Don't worry about it, the king's buying." At that Scrooge sat down, and the game continued.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth finished wrapping the last sucker carefully, putting it in a basket with several others. He then placed the basket in the foyer of the coliseum. He looked at for a moment, pondering. Jiminy spoke up at that point.

"You're giving out candy?" The cricket seemed pleased with him and his progress.

"Poisoned candy," the silvered hair man corrected.

The cricket blanched. "Why don't you give out non-poisoned candy? " he squeaked.

"Now what good will that do?" the man said, still not completely satisfied. He snapped his fingers and put a 'free' sign in the basket. He smiled and nodded.

"But we don't want to hurt anyone!" Jiminy squeaked again.

Sephiroth looked at him. "What?"

"We don't want to hurt anyone." Jiminy was met with a blank stare. "Uh…you can't be a real boy if you do." At that, Sephiroth quickly grabbed the basket, but not before a small boy had taken a sucker. Gasping, Sephiroth backhanded the child, making him dropped the tainted candy. The ex-general picked up the piece and put it in the basket, then smiled at Jiminy.

"Um… good… I guess."

**. o . o .**

Leon was hammered. He had never been so drunk in all his life. Fortunately, so was everyone else in the bar. He was so happy that he came tonight he stood up, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"You know what?… You guys….you guys are…great." He sat back down and

hiccupped.

Mickey stood, clapping at the SeeD's words. "No Leon…YOU'RE great." He promptly sat down, also hiccupping.

Another man in the bar stood. "I love you Leon!" The bar went silent.

**. o . o .**

Outside the tavern, Chip and Dale were making their way to the item shop. As they passed by the huge window in front of the bar, a chair flew through it, striking both chipmunks.

They got up, chattering angrily and went in the bar door, rolling up their sleeves. Moments later, screams came from inside.

"Ahh! My knees!"

"My poor shins!"

"Oh Zeus, my ankles!"

**. o . o .**

"And, as I claim this land for Jenova, I thank you, friend Indians," Sephiroth said, rolling up a scroll he was reading from. The Lost Boys and Indians looked at him, amazed. Jiminy elbowed Sephiroth's head and he blinked.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot your gifts." He put a breath mask on and put latex gloves over his leather ones. He then reached into a chest and pulled out several blankets. "Smallpox blankets for everyone!"

"What's smallpox?" asked one of the boys.

"You'll find out," Sephiroth grinned toothily from behind the mask.

"No, no NO NO!! the angered cricket shouted, "NO smallpox blankets!" He then jumped

off Sephiroth's shoulder and stormed away.

"Wait! But I'll never be a real boy!" Sephiroth cried.

"You already are!" Jimini shouted back at him.

The silver-haired man looked down at himself. "I AM a real boy! Weeeeeeeee!!" He threw the blankets and skipped away, leaving behind a very confused tribe of Indians.

**. o . o .**

Leon hiccupped again. "Mickey… I need Jiminy back… Look at me, it's four in the morning and I'm drunk. We just tipped a cow and Cid threw up in Donald's hat."

"WHAT?!" came a shocked yelp from the magician duck.

"This is no life for a SeeD Commander. It's not even a life for Yuffie hic"

At that point, the doors were kicked open and Jiminy Cricket jumped onto the bar.

"Scotch, no ice."

The bartender put the glass in front of him as Leon hopped up. "Jiminy, you're back!"

The cricket looked up. "Um…yeah."

**End of Episode #3**

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Ah, expect a lot more Sephiroth, he's a gold mind of insanity. Please write a review, I'm getting discouraged by the lack of response (except for you five who DID write). And I know I said I'd only put Sephiroth if there were a lot of reviews...well I put him in just for those five who already reviewed. Thank you all.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Party **


	4. Episode 4

Heyo. Well, I found out since we last met that Kingdom Hearts 2 is going to be out sometime next September (as of right now). So, I have decided to update at least once a month before that time. For then this series will be over. There may be another one after it...but I heard a rumor Rinoa might be in it...that will change things (excellently, I might add).

Anyway, Enjoy the story...I kinda had to force it out in the end...Mortal Kombat coming out and all.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode #4: The Party .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"_We now return to Law and Order: Under the Sea"_

"_What have we got?"_

"_Three dead mermen and over four kilos of crack."_

"_What a mess."_

"Leon?… LEON!" Aerith yelled, finally getting his attention. "You've got to get ready."

Looking up from his TV, the gunbladist frowned. "For what?"

Aerith rolled her eyes, exasperated. "For the Traverse Town Annual Social. It's tonight, remember?"

Leon sunk further into his chair. "Uh… I'm not feeling well. Maybe I should stay here and rest…"

Aerith crossed her arms. "Leon…" Leon's miserable look grew worse. "Come on. You, Yuffie and I are going."

At that point, Yuffie limped in, coughing. Aerith looked at her smaller friend, a frown growing on her face. "What is it?"

Yuffie sniffled. "I think I'm sick."

Leon cracked a grin and looked at Aerith.

Aerith frowned more. "Oh, you poor thing, you'd better stay home and get some rest."

Leon's grin rapidly turned into scowl. "What? But..."

Aerith glared at him. He shut up.

Yuffie grinned and coughed. "Aerith, can I have the extra key to your room? I might need…. soup." Leon's scowl turned deadly and Yuffie backed up a step. "What? I'm sick."

Leon stood. "You're about to get a lot sicker."

Aerith's attention turned back to the man as well as her frown. "Come on Leon."

The SeeD was about to speak when the TV caught his attention.

"_Merman down! The Eel's packing heat!"_

"Leon?… LEON!" Aerith shouted.

"Huh?… But..."

"Come ON Leon."

"_You're under arrest for five counts of murder, and three counts of impersonating clergymen"_

Leon didn't notice Aerith grabbing his arm until she had already gotten him halfway out the door.

**. o . o .**

Leon was desperately avoiding conversation with the chattering group of small animals gathered in the second district. Much to his dismay, Aerith had abandoned him to the smaller and cuter side of the party while going off to speak with the Fairy Godmother. He couldn't find anyone to hide out with. Not Cid or the King, he'd ever settle for McDuck. Instead, Jiminy chirped in his ear as the animals chattered around him.

Waiting for Jiminy to look away, he quickly snuck a drink from the flask hidden in his jacket.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie snuck out of the apartment and into the now deserted first district. Rubbing her hands and making a mental note of the town's foolishness she looked at her targets and put them in order of difficulty and reward value.

"Heh heh." She began at the café and worked her way up.

**. o . o .**

As the party in the second district progressed, the citizens of Traverse Town started singing about how happy they were. Much to the amazement and dismay of Leon, they also had a choreographed dance to go with it. Soon he was surrounded by the singing and dancing animals, and cut off from any escape.

He slipped in another drink.

**. o . o .**

In the first district, an old man dressed in rags hobbled into the square with the aid of a cane. Looking around, he spied a shop clerk putting a 'closed' sign on his door. Smiling, the old man walked to the younger.

"Hello there," said the ragged old man, receiving a nod in return. "What's going on over there?" he asked, pointing to the second district and the noise coming from it.

The clerk smiled as he locked the door. "The Traverse Town Annual Social is tonight. I'm going there now."

The elder made a face and took a step closer. "I'm new to these parts. Can you tell me where to find a man named Merlin?"

"That wizard's just a crazy old man… He lives in the third district, in the magic house. I wouldn't bother him. He's really powerful, I heard."

The old man's frown grew. He followed the clerk as he started toward the second district, passing by the town mailbox. The old man noticed the mailbox twitch as they came closer. He grinned.

"Thank you, kind sir. That's most helpful," The old man said. Then, swinging his cane, he knocked the younger man into the mailbox. Still affected by the strange gummi block Yuffie had slapped on it, it swallowed the clerk in one gulp.

Laughing, the old man pulled off his mask and tattered rags, revealing black and red robes and a curled black beard. He placed a turban on his head as a parrot flew in and landed on his shoulder. He laughed as the mailbox burped. "Oh Iago, I think I'm going to like this town."

**. o . o .**

Yuffie gently pulled out the glass circle she had cut in the window. Carefully slipping a hand in, the ninja unlocked the door and slowly crept into the Moogles' shop. She took a few steps in, eyeing a large mythril shard. As she placed her hands on the shard, she heard a shotgun cock. She looked up to find two barrels pointing at her.

"We're closed." Mogrika said sternly, holding the shotgun steady.

Yuffie put her hands up and backed out the way she came. As the door closed, she grumbled a few curses and moved on. Too busy cursing to pay attention to what she was doing, she slammed into a body.

"Hey! Watch it," she snapped, looking up. A black and red robed man stared down at her. He glanced at the window that Yuffie had cut open.

"A skillful job, regardless of the result… Perhaps I can make use of that skill." Jafar raised his snake staff, aiming its hypnotic eyes at the ninja. "You will retrieve an item for me, an item of great value..."

Yuffie stared blankly at him, then made a face. "Mind tricks don't work on me, only money."

Jafar scowled at her, then at his staff. He thought a moment, then smiled, reaching a hand into his robe. "That can be arranged." He held out a bag.

Yuffie eyed the bag greedily. "So who am I stealing from?" she asked.

"The wizard who lives in the third district. He has -"

"Merlin?" Yuffie gasped. "I don't think so! I'm not messing with Merlin."

Jafar opened the bag and let the jewels within tumble into his hand. "That's a shame..."

Yuffie blinked at the jewels, which glinted in the moonlight. "I'll do it."

**. o . o .**

Leon had finally found somewhere to hide.

As the town had burst into another well-rehearsed song, he had finally had enough and made a run for it. A few of the singing animals had noticed and gave chase. He had leapt over one of the banquet tables and rolled under another to elude them. Once out of sight, he had run like mad until he found himself in the third district. He had spotted the old abandoned house and ducked into it, slamming the door and locking it as he heard the pursuing animals coming closer.

Now he leaned against the door, catching his breath as he listened to them pass, still singing cheerfully. As the singing faded into the distance, he sighed in relief and sunk down to the floor. He had managed to escape Jiminy as well during the chase, and was thankful to have a few moments alone for a change.

**. o . o .**

"Why don't we just get the book ourselves?" A grating voice echoed in the first district.

"Merlin is very powerful, Iago. If the girl is as good as she appears, we won't have to face him directly," came a reply, "We need that book...it is a world with a keyhole..."

The parrot on Jafar's shoulder grumbled, "Well, what's taking so long?"

The sorcerer frowned. "He must not have gone to the festival."

At that point, a toad hopped into view. It looked at the two. They looked back. It then started ribbitting furiously and hopping up and down.

"I think that toad's on drugs," Iago squawked.

Jafar frowned as it continued. "It seems to be talking to us." The toad kept hopping and tried to make signs with its arms. When the sorcerer and parrot seemed to not understand, the toad made an exasperated motion. At that moment, a woman walked by the group, giving them all a look. As she passed by, the toad gestured for their attention and then touched the woman's leg. There was a large poof and a scream, and the woman disappeared. When the smoke cleared, another toad now stood in her place, looking very confused.

"Ah," Jafar said to Iago, "It seems our ninja has met the wrath of the wizard." He waved his staff and a cloud of smoke engulfed the first toad. A moment later, Yuffie appeared, spewing obscenities.

"Your services have been unsatisfactory," Jafar said.

"What did you expect! Of course Merlin was going to catch me. He's a wizard!" Yuffie huffed. "And of course he doesn't trust me in his house. He doesn't even talk to anyone besides the fairy godmother and Leon."

Jafar's eyebrows raised. "Leon?"

Yuffie examined a wart on her arm with dismay. "Yeah, Leon buddies up with all the weirdos in this town."

"Where would I find this Leon?" the sorcerer queried, half paying attention to the other toad as it hopped away frantically.

Yuffie forgot the wart and grinned. "What's it worth to you?" Jafar scooped out a few gems from his bag and held them up. Yuffie's grin grew larger. "Leon's probably in the third district." She pointed to the door leading that way. "Hiding from the social. Long hair, big scar down his face. Unless hell froze over, he's frowning."

**. o . o .**

Leon peeked out of the abandoned house, not having heard any singing in a while. Hoping to sneak back to the apartment and catch the second half of In _Search Of: Pete's Dragon_, he started back to the hotel.

"There you are, Leon." Leon closed his eyes and stifled a groan when Jiminy landed on his shoulder. "I thought I lost you."

From behind him, he heard the pad of soft shoes moving swiftly. Leon turned, gunblade drawn, and was met by the red swirling snake eyes of Jafar's staff.

"You will get the magical book from Merlin and bring it to me," the sorcerer commanded.

Leon blinked. He looked at the man, at his staff, then at the man again. Slowly backing away and then turning without a word, he started for his apartment, hoping to avoid any more freaks for the night.

Jafar glared at the man's back as he went, then at Iago as the bird badly contained a snicker. The sorcerer thought for a moment, then smiled at the bird.

"What?"

"You are going to persuade our moody friend to do our bidding."

The parrot squawked, losing a few feathers. "Me?"

Jafar grinned, "Yes, you. Now go."

**. o . o .**

Ducking into an alley, Leon huffed a sigh of relief as he dodged another swarm of singing animals. They seemed to have spotted him at some point, and were now singing about 'finding the grumpy guy.' Jiminy looked around and loudly said, "Why do you keep hiding from everyone?"

Leon winced and shushed him. "We're… uh… playing a game."

"Oh! Okay," the cricket chirped. Leon cautiously stepped out and looked around. He caught sight of a pink dress and quickly ducked back into the alley.

"Leon! Leon! Where are you?" Aerith called.

Leon cringed. If she found him, it could mean possible hours of singing and dancing. He sunk further into the shadows and kept quiet.

"Leon! I know you're here… Come on, they've almost started with the scheduled dancing." Leon's eyes widened and he sunk even further back. Jiminy looked at him.

"Why aren't we going to see Aerith?" the cricket chirped at him.

"Uh… um... I..."

As Leon tried to stammer an explanation, a bird landed on his shoulder. "She's on the other side of the district by now. Sneak around the corner and go," the parrot said.

"What?" The gunbladist tried to shoo the bird, who held on to his shoulder.

"That girl you're hiding from, she's passed by, you can escape."

Jiminy jumped up at that. "Wait! Aerith is looking for you! You can't just hide from the party!" he said.

Leon looked at the bird on his left shoulder and the cricket on his right.

"…"

He snuck past the corner and bolted through the door to the second district. Once there, he glanced at the big clock on the wall. He grumbled, noting he had missed all his shows. Desperately not wanting to go back to the party, he looked around. He noted that the bar was still open.

"Yeah, let's go to the bar," Iago chirped.

"No Leon, we have to go find Aerith!"

Leon again looked from one shoulder to another. He then walked into the bar. The bartender looked up and grinned.

"I figured you'd be here sooner or later," he said, smugly.

"Whatever."

The man continued grinning and got him a beer. "Anything for you two?" he asked the animals on Leon's shoulders.

"No, thank -" Jiminy was cut off by Iago.

"Whiskey, no ice. Same for Tinkerbell here, and he's buying," the parrot indicated Leon, who made a face but didn't deny them. The bartender put the drinks down. After a few rounds, Leon felt obligated to question the bird that had suddenly joined them.

"Why'd you leave that guy with the hat?" Leon said from over the top of his mug, "and what does he want with Merlin?"

Iago took another drink and murmured, uh.. I don't know what you're talking about.. heh..."

Leon looked over at the bird, leveling a glare at him, "You were sitting on his shoulder while he waved that staff at me, demanding I get something from Merlin," the bird was backing up, but Leon grabbed him, "What's going on here?"

Iago gulped, "Jafar wants uh...um...I forgot," he squawked when Leon gave him a squeeze, "Okay, okay! Jafar wants to take Merlin's powers! I don't want anything to do with him...he's gone mad!"

Leon scowled, he was pretty sure the parrot was lying in some fashion, he hadn't figured out how. Figuring that it was true that Merlin should be informed of the parrot's and Jafar's plans, he stood, putting the money for the drinks on the bar, "Let's go,"

Jiminy looked up from his drink, "Where?"

Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose, "to warn Merlin."

**. o . o .**

Merlin stroked his beard as Leon explained the situation. "I see…and who is this man? This Jafar?"

"I don't really know, the bird here knows about it," he indicated Iago, who fluttered.

"He's insane! He's gonna kill us all!" Merlin raised an eyebrow and looked at Leon, who shrugged. The two men started to determine exactly what the whole thing meant when Iago looked around the room. With a grin, he eyed the book Jafar had been seeking.

Jiminy Cricket listened to what Merlin and Leon were saying, wondering what it all meant. It was then he noticed that the parrot that had been on Leon's shoulder was making his way to a book on Merlin's bed. He didn't mention anything at first, but when the bird picked up the book and started flying out of the room, he squeaked.

"Leon, look!" The cricket pointed wildly at Iago. Leon caught a glimpse of the bird as he flew out of the small building. Grabbing the gunblade from his side, he took off after him. When he was out of the building, the SeeD found himself face-to-face with Jafar, holding the book and grinning.

"You should have helped me when you had the chance, boy." The sorcerer waved his staff and a fireball flew at Leon's head. He dodged and charged the older man. Jafar threw the book in the air, and a beam shot out of it into him. The sorcerer disappeared within the beam. Leon jumped into the beam after him, paying no heed to the warnings Merlin shouted at him.

**. o . o .**

Leon tumbled to the ground. Quickly looking around he found himself in a wooded area. A path in front of him led over a hill, at the top of which he could see Jafar running. Getting up, the SeeD ran after him at top speed. At the bottom of the hill, he nearly collided with the sorcerer, who had stopped and was staring at what was before him.

A group of animals were dancing about in a clearing, singing about having a picnic. He looked around and found a sign that said, "100 Acre Wood." Leon took another swig from his flask and handed it to the sorcerer, who also drank.

Giving the scene a disgusted look, Jafar turned and left. Leon too was about to leave, when he felt a tug on his pant leg. Looking down he found that a small piglet was holding on to him.

"Excuse me sir, could you help us? My friend Pooh is stuck Rabbit's window," the little pig asked.

The SeeD made a face. "I'm entirely too sober for that," he said, taking another drink.

**. o . o .**

A few hours later, Leon stumbled out of the portal the book made, hiccupping. He ended up face down in the street. The book itself was retrieved by Merlin, who chuckled and went back to his house.

**End of Episode #4**

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Did you like it? I hope so. Did you like it enough to write me a little review? I hope so.

Big thanks to my editor this month, he really helped me get this sucker done. And he's such a cutey ;).

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Attack of the Fangirl**


	5. Episode 5

Sorry this one took so long to come out, but I had a loss in the family and was unable to meet my deadline, self imposed as it may be. Don't worry though, this thing is HUGE, the biggest story yet. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy, because I actually start using the rating I assigned in this one (be warned.)

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie:

Attack of the Fangirl.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Steel flashed in the hot sun as sand was kicked up in a flurry of movement. After a few moments of clashing, there was silence, save panting from tired lungs. Leon was grimacing. There was a long slash down his leg he was trying to pretend wasn't there. He was out of potions. He was out of elixirs. He promised not to junction and he didn't. He couldn't lose now. He'd never hear the end of it.

With a roar he flew at his assailant, slashing wildly. His opponent didn't seem to expect the torrent and backed up, blocking the whole way. Once Leon's wild attack was over, his opponent took advantage and swung, hard.

Leon managed to save his stomach, but got slammed in the side and went skidding. He didn't get up for a moment, and his opponent dropped his guard.

"You okay? Did I hit you too hard?" Cloud Strife grinned, offering Leon a hand. He got an icy glare in response as his hand was shoved away.

"Whatever." Leon hauled himself up and grunted. Cloud whistled at the cut down his leg.

"Okay… Maybe it's time we get that healed…" He received another glare, but after trying to put weight on it, Leon nodded. They both made their way to the infirmary while the stadium quieted down after the fight.

"Okay, let's just get you in the infirmary and we-" Cloud stopped suddenly and dove into the room, leaving Leon outside. Leon looked the way the younger man had been staring to see a young girl bouncing their way.

"Cloud...CLOUD," Leon shouted. The door opened and Leon was yanked in by the shirt. Once in, he nearly took a swing at Cloud, who had shoved his leg at an odd angle. The younger man seemed to be unconcerned with the SeeD's violent intentions as he peeked out the door.

Cloud gave Leon a cross look. "Don't DO that! If she sees us, I'll never get away from her."

Leon sat on a chair gingerly and gave Cloud a look. "Who?"

"Fangirl."

"Who?"

Cloud looked at him funny for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know her name, but she's been here every day for the last three months. She won't leave me alone!"

The younger man then noticed Leon was more concerned with his bleeding leg then his friend's woes. Cloud groaned and searched his pockets for a potion. "Anyway, she's kinda obsessed with anything that walks into the Coliseum. It's really awkward." He was unable to find a potion and shrugged at Leon.

Hercules stepped into the room, handing Leon a potion, "Junior just isn't used to having girls drool all over him." Giving him a grateful look, Leon downed the whole bottle and sighed as his leg started healing.

"Back when things really picked up for me, I couldn't leave the house without getting trampled by people." The big man chuckled at the face Cloud was making at him. "You'll get used to it."

"I don't know… I'm starting to think she's a psycho…"

Leon raised an eyebrow. "She's after you, right?"

Cloud glared at him. "Want to go again?" Leon was already standing. Both men walked to the arena gates while Hercules shook his head.

Soon the two were glaring at each other, swords in hand. After a brief moment of stillness, Cloud launched himself at Leon, swinging down. Leon easily dodged and swung at the younger man's retreating back.

Cloud bit back a shout as his back got cut. He spun around and faced Leon. He feigned a rush and swung at the older man's legs. Leon jumped back, but still got a slice across one shin. Growling at the stinging pain, the SeeD swung high and missed. Cloud was grinning as he swung as quick as he could sideways. Leon only barely stopped the blade with his and pushed it away.

Leon ducked and rolled under another swing and came up, swinging at Cloud's feet. The SOLDIER jumped and stumbled back then receiving a blow to the side from another swing.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie watched from the stands as Cloud kicked Leon's feet from under him, chuckling at the face he was making. A bouncy girl with pigtails sitting next to her gave the ninja a large grin.

"I love Cloud!" the girl said, bouncing in her seat.

"That's great." The ninja tried to ignore the incredibly annoying girl as Cloud narrowly escaped a slice to the face.

**. o . o .**

Leon ducked a swing from Cloud and sliced at the younger man's chest. He managed to dodge major harm, but a wound opened on his chest and began to bleed. Grimacing, the blonde took a few steps back. Leon lunged forward and slammed hard into Cloud, meeting his blade. Pushing him backward, Leon knocked Cloud down, who coughed and let himself fall back onto the sand.

Leon was almost grinning as he offered Cloud a hand, which was knocked away.

"Smart ass." Cloud got up and both left the arena. Leon dropped Cloud off at the infirmary and headed for the fighters' locker room.

"Wow, you fought really well."

Leon turned to find a girl talking to him. She looked to be about Yuffie's age, but she had an odd air of insanity.

"I can't believe I haven't seen you here before. Do you come here often? You're really hot. Would you like to have dinner at my house tonight? Do you know Cloud well? Do you make out with him in the shower room?"

Leon's growing scowl turned into a grimace at the last question and he turned, walking away. The girl followed him, continuing to ask him questions of varying degrees of horror as Leon looked for an exit. He quickly ducked into the Men's room and was surprised to find Cloud already there.

The younger man looked up at Leon then looked back at the mirror, staring intently at his face. "Does this look like a wrinkle?"

Leon frowned, "What are you doing here?" Cloud continued looking at himself.

"It's the Men's room, she can't get in. I practically live in here, praying I never get a fan boy."

"We need to get rid of her…"

Cloud perked up at that comment. "Want me to kill her?"

Leon scowled. "No."

"Want me to…. kill….. her?"

The same scowl remained on the SeeD's face. "No."

"Oh… well, what are we going to do?" At that point, Leon noticed that someone had followed them, but it wasn't Fangirl. Sephiroth walked in, Masemune in hand. Leon had only seen him a few times in the Coliseum, most of the time watching him in battle. The SeeD allowed a rare grin to split his face, an idea forming in his head. He turned to speak to Cloud, but found that the younger man had already escaped.

"Cloud?"

After twenty minutes of tracking him down, Leon finally found Cloud hiding in the bowels of the coliseum. "What was that all about?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Leon just looked at him.

"I DON'T want to talk about it."

"Whatever. Listen, we can get rid of Fangirl if we get her interested in someone else. If we get her to like Sephiroth somehow, she'll leave us alone."

The SOLDIER grinned and immediately blurted out a plan. "Okay, so first we get Hercules drunk, then we set him up in a fight with Sephiroth. Sephiroth wins, Fangirl falls in love with him. Bada-bing, Bada-boom, no more Fangirl problem."

Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "… Do you ever think before you talk?"

Cloud was already walking away. "No time. Let's go get a case of beer."

Leon groaned, but followed.

**. o . o .**

"A little more to the right." Phil nodded and smiled as Hercules moved a pillar into place. "That's it, thanks."

"Sure thing," the demigod smiled. A moment later, he found Cloud walking up to him with an unusual grin on his face.

"Hey, Herc, you busy?"

Hercules shook his head. "No, why?"

"Wanna go drinking?"

"Ummm… well, with my duties as a role model and all…"

"Come on. The kids don't care if you have a few."

"Hmm…. Oh all right. Maybe just a beer."

Soon Cloud was frowning at the bar, watching the demigod down beer after beer with little to no effect on his judgment. Further souring his mood, the bartender reminded him that he was to pick up the bill, as he promised earlier.

An hour later, Hercules was finally hiccupping. Cloud poked as his own beer and spoke up, "You know Herc, they say you're really strong and all, but they also say you're not the strongest."

"What are you talking about?" the demigod said between hiccups.

"You know Sephiroth?"

"Yeah. He tried to steal Christmas one year."

"They say you can't beat him."

"Let's go. It's wup-ass time!" Hercules bellowed drunkenly, standing up and knocking over his bar stool.

Cloud let out a sigh. He hoped Leon wasn't having as much trouble with Sephiroth.

**. o . o .**

"Hey, Sephiroth."

The ex-general stopped as Leon called him. "What?"

"You want to fight Hercules?"

"Sure."

**. o . o .**

Cloud nodded one last time to Leon before he casually walked over to where Phil was going over his records. "Hey, Phil, have you seen this thing over here that would interest you?" He could hear Leon slap his forehead as Phil turned.

"No. What is it?"

Cloud gave him a toothy grin and grabbed his arm, leading him away. "Let's go look."

Leon snuck over to the roster Phil had dropped and picked it up. He crossed out the next match and wrote in "Sephiroth vs. Hercules." The SeeD then darted away, hiding behind a vase.

At that point, Phil had shaken Cloud off him and came back to his roster. "Let's see, next fight is… Sephiroth and Hercules? Well, it is written here… although I only noticed it after Cloud made an obvious attempt to distract me… and Leon is hiding behind that vase… but it's written down, so I'm not changing it."

Cloud gave Leon a thumbs up as the satyr rang the match bell.

**. o . o .**

Spectators filed in for the fight that was starting in a few minutes. Leon and Cloud were seated in the front row, waiting. Cloud looked around nervously.

"Hercules is gonna be okay, right? Sephiroth isn't exactly weak."

Leon leaned back. "Hercules is a god."

Cloud shook his head. "Well, Sephiroth is kind of a god."

Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "One fan girl at a time, please."

"What?"

"Nothing. He'll be fine."

**. o . o .**

Elsewhere in the stands, Yuffie waited for the fight to start. She had been a little surprised at the match herself. Hercules rarely did any exhibition matches. And considering his opponent, this should prove interesting.

"This seat taken?"

Yuffie looked up and tried not to groan, the same fangirl had found her again. Before she spoke, the girl had already sat down. "Hercules is sooooo hot!"

Yuffie rubbed the bridge of her nose, then stopped, realizing she was acting like Squall. "Listen, kid, I-"

She was cut of by a squeal from the younger girl. "There he is!"

**. o . o .**

Leon elbowed Cloud, who was getting candy from a vendor, when Hercules and Sephiroth stepped into the coliseum. Cloud held his cotton candy up, offering it to Leon, who glared at him until he retracted his arm. They both looked up when the final bell was rung.

Before long, Sephiroth had drawn his blade and was flying in the air towards Hercules. The demigod ducked moments before getting his head cut off. Hercules grabbed Sephiroth's retreating leg and threw him across the arena. The silver-haired man was back on his feet quickly and running forward, blade held out.

Slashing twice, Sephiroth cut a cross into Hercules' chest, making him stagger back. Grinning, he dove at Hercules, blade pointing for the heart. Hercules narrowly ducked in time, stumbling to the ground.

"Crap, we gotta do something!" Cloud said around a mouthful of cotton candy. Leon was already jumping over the ledge to the coliseum floor. "Leon?! Hey, wait!!" Cloud swallowed and followed.

Sephiroth was advancing on the fallen Hercules when Leon jumped at his back, meaning to tackle him. Colliding, Leon was amazed to find the man didn't go down. Grimacing, he jumped again, latching onto his back. The ex-general growled and tried to throw him off, to no avail. He raised Masemune and swung back, meaning to slice into Leon, when Cloud knocked into him from the side.

Sephiroth recovered, and his eyebrows shot up. "Meat Puppet? What are you doing here?"

Cloud blanched, but spoke up. "Stopping you."

Sephiroth grinned at him.

Leon was preparing to jump Sephiroth again when Cloud went to his side. "Come on," Leon said, "You go high, I'll go lo-ack!" the SeeD choked as Cloud grabbed him by the neck.

"Cloud, what are you doing?!" Leon growled at him.

Sephiroth grinned again, turning back to Hercules. "Keep him busy, Meat Puppet."

Leon managed another gasp of air before Cloud's hands closed around his throat.

**. o . o .**

"What is Cloud doing?" Fangirl thought out loud.

Yuffie grinned a little. "Sephiroth's got some crazy mind trick deal on Cloud."

Fangirl looked at her. "I've never seen him do that before."

Yuffie shrugged. "Cloud's probably been avoiding him."

"Does he do that a lot?"

"Oh yeah. One time he made Cloud steal Christmas."

"Can he do that with Leon?"

"No, just Cloud." The ninja noticed the younger girl rubbing her hands together. "…Why?"

"No matter…. Soon they will all be mine…"

Yuffie's eyebrows shot up at that comment. She stood. "I see… Excuse me." The ninja ran down the stands, grabbing an apple from one of the vendor's on the way down. Once she got to the edge, she threw the apple as hard as she could.

It hit Cloud on the head. He let out a yelp and let go of Leon to rub the newly forming lump. "Oooooow, that hurt!" he said, regaining control of himself. Leon fought to catch his breath and pointed angrily at Sephiroth and Hercules, who were still fighting. Cloud perked up and nodded. "Got it." He ran towards the two and popped materia onto his armguard.

"Stop!"

Sephiroth went motionless right as the spell hit him, blade just nearing the demigod's throat. Leon had caught up to Cloud and both dragged Hercules out of the ring.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie paced in one of the quiet halls of the Coliseum, thinking. "Fangirl thinks she can turn Leon and Cloud into her sex puppets, but I won't let her…"

A man with an ice cream cone stood nearby, listening. Finally he spoke up. "Why do you care?"

Yuffie turned and faced him. "Because they're MY sex puppets!"

"I see..."

She continued pacing, rubbing her arm. "I have to stop her from getting to Sephiroth… but how?"

Her listener, Sephiroth, licked his ice cream cone, borrowed from a spectator, and shrugged. "Box car derby?"

Yuffie looked at him. "Uh…yeah." She walked away, muttering to herself.

Sephiroth shrugged and continued eating his ice cream. He heard someone else approach and looked up.

He gasped, dropping his cone. "It's you!"

**. o . o .**

"Finally, I can go to the showers without fear," Cloud said.

Leon's eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"…I don't want to talk about it."

Leon rolled his eyes and looked at his watch. Scrooge had mentioned calling in another job soon. "I've got to go back."

Yuffie jumped down from her spot near the wall, starting for the door. Leon was her ride.

"Okay, see you later," Cloud responded.

Leon turned to go, and found Sephiroth facing him. Behind him was Fangirl, wearing a t-shirt with "Jenova" scrawled on it and grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, Leon," Cloud turned to speak to his friend, "Don't forget we need... SHIT!"

Yuffie looked up. "Shit." She grabbed a smoke pellet from her belt. "Ninja, vanish!" She threw down the pellet and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Leon blinked. "What's Jenova?"

Fangirl's grin grew even broader. "Sephiroth, dear."

The silver-haired man perked up. "Yes, Mother?"

"Get them."

"Yes Mother," answered Sephiroth, pulling Masemune from his side. The halfway innocent look melted into a cold grin.

Cloud's eyes widened. "Oh hell."

Leon blinked again. "Cloud…what's going on?"

"RUN!"

It was too late as Sephiroth leapt at them. Leon, fortunately, had been quick on the draw and blocked the thin blade with his own. Sephiroth had already recovered and swung again, slicing into the SeeD's side.

Leon bit back a curse and lunged at the older man, swinging hard. Sephiroth blocked and swung again, but aborted mid-swing to block an incoming attack from Cloud. Leon blinked, amazed that the very thin blade could hold off Cloud's gigantic sword. He had little time to dwell on it, as he ducked from another attack and countered.

Sephiroth backed up as Cloud got to Leon's side. "See, I told you he was like a god."

"Whatever."

As they looked up, Sephiroth was already charging them, insanity gleaming in his eyes. Both men held their blades out, bracing for the attack. Sephiroth leapt high in the air and came down, his blade stopping an inch from them.

"Sleep!"

"Wha- ?" Leon didn't finish the word as the spell hit both he and Cloud. They both clattered to the ground as Sephiroth watched, grinning.

**. o . o .**

Drip

Drip drip

Drip drip drip

Leon's awareness returned to him slowly. At first all he could make out was a dripping noise to his right. Soon after, he noticed the soft surface he was lying on. He opened his eyes and found he was in a bedroom, obviously one belonging to a teenage girl. The dripping noise was from a zen fountain on a nightstand. He blinked, then gaped at his surroundings.

All over the walls were pictures of Cloud, Hercules, and Leon. There were candid shots at the coliseum as well as pictures of Leon and Cloud sleeping, taken in their bedrooms. To his further horror, he found a few photoshopped pictures of them, ranging from cuddling to… "Oh Hyne..." Leon shuddered, looking away from an altered picture of himself and King Ansem.

"Oh my head…What the HELL?!" came from the floor. Leon looked over the foot of the bed to find that Cloud was sitting up, his mouth hanging open. He sprang up and tried the door, which was locked.

"Fire!" Cloud shouted, holding his hand out to the door. After a moment of waiting, he discovered that his materia was missing. He looked to Leon for help.

"There's a magic barrier. My junctions are useless."

Cloud started searching the room, "There has to be a key or something."

Leon started looking around as well. He stopped at a suspicious looking mirror. Under further inspection, he could see the light source in the next room "This is a two-way mirror," he groaned.

**. o . o .**

Fangirl cackled as she and Sephiroth watched through the very two-way mirror Leon had just discovered. "They called me insane for pursuing men ten years older than me. They said I was mad for coming to the coliseum every day. They said I needed to pay more attention to math than tying knots, but now look at me! I have them right where I want, and Mom won't be home for the weekend!"

Sephiroth blinked at his 'mother,' then turned to watch as both men tried to ram into the two-way mirror. His head quirked and he suddenly drew his blade and pointed at the door at the top of the stairs. Fangirl looked up and found her younger brother staring down the blade.

"Get out," she said sourly.

The young boy crossed his arms, despite the blade pointing at his face. "Mom said no boys in the house while she's gone."

"GET OUT!"

The boy quickly scurried off.

Fangirl turned to her 'son' grinning. "Go ahead, Sephiroth."

**. o . o .**

Leon felt a migraine coming on. "This couldn't get any worse…" He turned to Cloud, to find him blank-faced and motionless.

"…Cloud?"

As soon as he spoke, Cloud's head jerked to an alert position and he looked at Leon. "Hey baby, let's turn that frown upside down..." He twitched and took a step toward Leon. "I couldn't help but notice how many belts you have..."

Leon backed away as the younger man reached for one.

"Don't be scared, I don't bite…. much."

Cloud stopped, looking to his right. "How was that, mother?" He turned back to Leon. "You're seduced now, right? Let's do it."

At this point, Leon had picked up a sharp-looking paperweight and was brandishing it threateningly.

Cloud backed away, holding up his hands. "Hey now, we're friends, right?... Friends who like to touch-"

"NOT NOW!" Came a female voice from the other side of the wall.

**. o . o .**

In the other room, Fangirl frowned. "Oh pooh… Well, cut off the air supply." Sephiroth turned to a control panel and hit a switch. They both watched as Cloud and Leon collapsed. Fangirl started to laugh evilly at their plight while Sephiroth blinked at her.

"Let's go give our guests a visit… a touchy visit," Fangirl laughed, opening the door to her bedroom and going in.

**. o . o .**

Meanwhile, the kitchen door was being forced open by an irate ninja. Looking around, she found a small boy looking up at her.

"Wooooow." the boy stared at her ninja gear.

Yuffie took one of her throwing stars and handed it to him. "Where's your sister?"

The boy pointed to the door down the hall. "Downstairs with the guy with the big sword."

"Is there a park around here?" The boy nodded. "Good. Go play for a few hours."

The boy ran off, grinning at his new toy.

**. o . o .**

Cloud's eyes started to focus as he woke up. He couldn't remember why he should have the feeling of panic he did. When his eyes finally focused on Fangirl unzipping his shirt, he remembered. He quickly backed away from the girl, looking for some kind of weapon. At that point, he felt a familiar presence in his mind.

He put up a brief struggle before Sephiroth gained control once again.

**. o . o .**

Leon's first sight as he regained consciousness was that of Cloud, shirtless with a bowtie, cleaning a wine hutch. His mind immediately went into overdrive.

_Either I'm dead and in hell, or alive… and in hell. Why would I be alive in hell? I guess Hades could have kidnapped me, but why? I heard that's how he got his wife… Oh hell. No, I don't think he's gay… Never really asked… Wait, I'm chained to the wall... Fuck._

"…Cloud?"

The SOLDIER looked up. "Yes, it is I, CLOUD and no one else." He went back to dusting to Leon's dismay as Fangirl and Sephiroth entered the room.

"Ha HA! You find yourself in the clutches of the brilliant Fangirl! If you beg for mercy, I may spare your life… after I'm done with you."

Leon merely stared at her as she spoke. She frowned. "Fine. Sephiroth, apply the bondage gear!"

Leon paled as the older man came towards him with several strips of studded leather. Think Leon, think. Crisis brings out the best in you... "Sephiroth, you don't want to do that."

"Why not?"

"You'll be helping your mother have sex."

The ex-general gasped and turned. "Mother! Is this true?!"

Fangirl smiled. "No dear. I'm helping YOU have sex."

Leon's mind went into overdrive again, trying to think of a way to kill himself.

_I could slam my head on the wall until I did enough damage. Or bite my tongue and bleed to death. Or I bite off my tongue and choke on it… Yeah, I like that one, painful enough to forget the other stuff._

At that point, Fangirl shoved a ball gag in Leon's mouth, gaining a poisonous glare from the SeeD.

**. o . o .**

By the time Yuffie finally found Cloud, he was detailing a car in the garage. She made a face at his attire, then threw an apple at his head. She quickly made her escape as Cloud stood dazed, holding his head.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth was trying to figure out the buckles on the pants he and Fangirl had just forced on Leon when he abruptly stood, a lethal look coming across his face.

"Sephiroth?" Fangirl frowned as he turned to leave the room.

"The puppet is off its strings."

He left to investigate and was met down the hall by Yuffie. "One side, ninja."

He came to a halt as Yuffie held up a sock puppet with 'Jenova' written on the head in marker.

"She's not your real mother!"

Sephiroth gasped in horror.

**. o . o .**

"Stop squirming," Fangirl hissed while trying to apply more buckles to Leon's pants.

"You!"

Fangirl turned to find Sephiroth pointing his blade at her. "What are you --" She noticed the puppet on one of his hands. "Crap."

Sephiroth glared. "You are going to die for the following reasons..."

Cloud inched his way over to Leon as Sephiroth continued listing ways and reasons that Fangirl was going to die.

"Looking good, man."

The look Leon gave him caused him to take a step back before he unlocked the shackles holding him to the wall.

"You deception is unforgivable, and for that, your puny existence will come to an end," Sephiroth concluded.

Leon and Cloud escaped through the kitchen door as the building started to shake.

"Mother says you have to die now."

Fangirl jumped out of the living room window.

Moments later, her younger brother watched from across the street as his house imploded.

**. o . o .**

"All right, Phil, I think it's fixed." Hercules finished moving another pillar in place.

"Good work, kid." The little satyr lit a cigar and leaned against Hercules' leg. "I don't get why those two didn't just have me throw that girl out."

"They probably wanted to handle it themselves."

"Well, it was a stupid -"

At that point, Leon and Cloud ran in, out of breath and stumbling, Cloud wearing only pants and a bowtie, Leon half dressed in leather bondage gear. Phil didn't notice the cigar fall out of his open mouth.

A taxi stopped outside the smoking remains of a once nicely kept house. The woman who stepped out gaped at the smoldering spot that used to be her home. Her son and daughter came running up to her, both trying to explain at the same time what happened.

"What the HELL!?" was all she could exclaim.

**End of Episode #5 **

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Good? I hope you liked it. It was a little risqué I admit. Well, I'll try to get two stories out this month (which includes a bonus holiday one). Talk to you all later (and leave a little review if you'd like). A gigantic thank you to my editor, he was probably the only reason this is coherent this month.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Guardian Force Now!**


	6. Episode 6

I'd just like to thank reviewer "Inq " it's reasons like that review why I keep writing (hilarious). As for my baking, I think I'm pretty good…my editor liked his birthday cake. I drew Onaga from Mortal Kombat kicking a stick figure on it with frosting.

Also, Noey, you'll note that I finally put the request you asked for in here. Probably not quite what you were looking for…oh well.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode #6: Guardian Force Now!.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"Where's Leon? He's supposed check back in by now." Yuffie started pacing the room while Aerith rubbed her chin, looking out the window to the rain. Their moody friend had set out hours ago to patrol the town for heartless.

Aerith glanced at the clock on the wall. "He's late. Maybe we should go looking for him?"

Yuffie jumped up. "Let's go."

She went to the door and opened it, and was met by Leon, who collapsed at her feet.

"Leon!" Aerith joined Yuffie at his side and helped drag him in, closing the door. "What happened?

"Heartless…everywhere," the SeeD rasped. He was coated in cuts and bruises.

"Why didn't you heal?" Yuffie helped him into a chair.

"Out of potions. I wasn't junctioned," the SeeD gasped as Aerith popped open an elixir and had Leon drink it. As his wounds closed and bruises faded, she got him a towel and put the kettle on the stove.

"Leon… Why weren't you junctioned?"

He didn't answer for a long while. Aerith opened her mouth to speak, when the kettle whistled. She came back into the room with a cup, which she handed to Leon, who wouldn't make eye contact with her.

"What is it?"

Leon sighed, setting the cup down. "We found that using the Guardian Forces causes memory loss… and there are things I don't want to forget…"

Aerith looked horrified. "Why are you using them at all!"

Leon got to his feet. "Because I need their strength…" He went to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. I'll be fine." He closed the door and headed for the bar. Aerith and Yuffie looked at each other worriedly.

**. o . o .**

Leon looked glumly at his drink. He found he was drinking a lot more than he ever had before. He made a mental note to stop before it became a problem. Making good on his resolve, he hadn't touched the drink he was currently staring into.

It had been so long since things were normal. So long since he had been truly happy. He wondered if he should even try...

"Fruit basket for you."

Leon looked up to see the bartender hand a basket to him. "Fruit basket…from who?"

The bartender shrugged. "I found it behind the counter a while back."

Leon looked at the note on the top. "Feel better."

Probably from Aerith. He spied an apple on the top. Well, I do love apples…

He took a bite and decided that moping wasn't going to change things. He stood and put down money for his drinks. He took a step towards the door and stumbled, his mind getting fuzzy. The SeeD took another step and collapsed, unconscious.

From across the bar, in a dark booth, Yuffie high-fived the black-hooded witch sitting next to her. "I owe you one."

The wrinkled woman smiled evilly and slipped away into the shadows.

The ninja moved to Leon and poked him with her foot. After he didn't move, she grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him out of the bar, throwing the bartender a few munny bills to keep quiet.

**. o . o .**

Leon's eyes focused and recognized the interior of the abandoned house in the third district. Trying to remember when he decided to take a nap there of all places, he tried to sit up. He quickly found he was unable to and looked down at himself. He was tied to the bed.

Fearful for a moment that Fangirl had come after him again, he searched the room for some means to help himself out of this mess. As he did, the door opened, and in walked Yuffie.

"Yuffie! Get me out of this before Fangirl shows up..."

She said nothing as she moved to his side. But she didn't untie him.

"Yuffie?"

"No Fangirl. Just you and me, Squall..." She climbed onto the bed.

Leon's eyes grew wide, and he struggled wildly with his bonds. It was no use.

"God dammit, Yuffie. Let me go!"

She ignored him, grinning fiendishly and reaching for him. "So many belts, so little time..."

By this point, Leon was furious. And he was panicking. His mind and body were still sluggish from the drugged apple, and he reached for anything that would give him the strength to get himself out of this.

He felt his GF's, tucked away in the spot they had made for themselves in his mind, and he reached for them, junctioning every one he had. He summoned them all at once.

Yuffie dove out of the house, chased by a stampede of summoned creatures.

A short while later, Leon staggered out of the house, the sudden and violent junctioning having wiped his memory clean. He looked around confusedly at his unfamiliar surroundings, then wandered off down a random street.

**. o . o .**

"And that's when the mutant-pirates shot Leon with their mind eraser. Then I fought all twenty of them off, but by the time I got back to where I left Leon, he was gone!" Yuffie finished, waving her arms.

Aerith glared at her, but retrieved her staff from the closet.

"We need to find him. Who knows what he could get himself into… Let's go get Cid."

**. o . o .**

Ursula the sea witch looked at her latest employee. The black-finned merman with a scar down his face was scowling at the two eels who were circling him. It was the scowl that made Ursula hire him as her new consigliere. He had a dangerous quality that made him perfect for scaring little fishies out of their scales. And the fact that his mind was a complete blank made him easy to manipulate.

"Your Godson is going to be here soon," Jetsam hissed, slithering up to his mistress. The Octopus held up a hand, and the eel swam to the wall with his eel brother and fellow employee. A thin Octopus skittered in.

"He-he-hey Godmother. I need a favor."

Ursula leaned forward on the desk she was sitting at, clasping her hands together. "And what can I do for my Godson?"

The squirmy octopus blinked a few times and looked up. "I didn't get the part in the school play I wanted… Vinnie the Squid got it."

Ursula slammed her fists on the desk. "For too long the Squid family has been a thorn in my side… It's time we send them a message." She smiled sweetly at her godson. "Run along, dear. Your Godmother will take care of everything.

The small octopus nodded and skittered back out. As soon as he was out of the cave, Ursula's smile fell to an angry grimace.

"Go show the Squids the wrath of Ursula," she glared at her new employee, "I want a sea horses' bloody head in his bed by morning!"

The Merman nodded and swam off.

**. o . o .**

"I fought all fifty of them off, but by the time I got back to where I left Leon, he was gone!"

Cid looked at Aerith, who rolled her eyes. The astronaut groaned and dug his lance out of the closet. "He couldn't have gotten far. We just need to go where his instincts would take him."

**. o . o .**

A lone man stood on a plain under a star dotted sky. Wind whipped at his shoulder-length chestnut hair, flipping it into his eyes. He frowned, creasing the scar on his forehead. He was confused as to where he was. The clouds swirled and, oddly enough, a lion formed in them.

"You have forgotten me."

"No..." the man said, "... Wait, what?"

"You have forgotten who you are, and so, you have forgotten me."

He was met with a blank stare.

The cloud-lion then looked closer at who he was talking to. "... You're not Simba."

The scarred man shrugged.

The lion then began to fade into the sky again, "Remember….remember…."

"…"

**. o . o .**

Aerith looked in the last coffin they dug up in Halloween town. She sighed with relief when she found it was only full of the recently deceased, who definitely wasn't Leon.

"He's not in here," she called to Cid, who was burying another coffin.

"Well, let's keep moving."

**. o . o .**

A slightly confused man walked down the corridor of a hallway. His dark boots scraped the sandy ground, kicking up dust onto his black pants. The walls facing him were made of a tan stone and ornately carved. High arches held the building up, and urns painted with war scenes decorated the corners of the room.

The man ran a hand through his dark brown hair, looking around. He came upon a silver-haired man humming to himself and dumping a bag of something into a bucket. The silver-haired man saw the other man and turned, opening the door in front of him slightly and stepping on a foot stool.

"Hand me that bucket," the older man said, and the scarred man went to the bucket. He blanched slightly at the sight of the scorpions writhing within, but then shrugged, handing the bucket up. The silver-haired man carefully placed it over the door, ready to fall if someone opened the door all the way.

He admired his handiwork and stepped down from the stool, looking at his helper. "Sephiroth," he introduced himself, holding out his hand, "and you are?"

The scarred man looked confused for a moment. "I… don't know who I am."

Sephiroth frowned, and then grinned. "Then you shall be Count… Mako-licious!… No… just Count Mako. And together, we will rule this annex of the building!" He cackled, leading his new accomplice down the hall.

"We are?"

"Yes. Now, first we will steal Phil's roster… Then we replace the one o'clock 'Mighty Ducks vs. Chicago Blackhawks' with 'Hercules vs. Poison I put in his soup.'" He turned to 'Count Mako.' "We may get separated. If you ever need me, whistle."

**. o . o .**

"LEON!" Yuffie shouted from the top of a tree, "LEON! Come home! Aerith's making a pie?"

Cid glared up at her, "Shad up, that's not going to work…"

**. o . o .**

King Mickey was about to finish the last of his paperwork for the day when the doors to his office were kicked open. He looked up, surprised to see an angry-looking Leon storm in accompanied by a silver-haired man of equal anger.

"Ho Ho! Cah I help you?

Leon pointed to the ground. "Kneel."

The mouse blinked. "What?"

"KNEEL!"

"Get out, before I release the dogs."

Sephiroth jumped. "Dogs! Let's get out of here!" Both men ran for cover as Mickey shook his head.

**. o . o .**

Aerith, Cid and Yuffie continued through a forest they had found in Wonderland. Cid spit and looked around at the strangely colored trees and bushes. They looked similar to the ones he had noticed an hour ago.

"We're lost."

"I think you're right." Aerith looked at a strange bird in one of the trees, a pair of glasses with legs. She looked away, searching for a path, and then noticed a set of teeth smiling at her. Soon two eyes appeared, and then the rest of a pink and purple striped cat appeared.

"Hello down there, what a day to get-"

"Ooooh! A kitty!" Yuffie cut in suddenly. "Look how cute!" She beckoned at the Cheshire Cat with her finger and made kissy noises.

The annoyed cat disappeared and reappeared up in a tree.

"Ahem. Are you looking for something?"

Cid snorted, "How do we get out of here?"

"Get out? You just got here… Besides, you'll never find him if you leave…"

"Find who?" Cid growled.

Aerith perked up, "Wait, are you talking about Leon? Do you know where he is?"

The cat purred moment. "You might find that he's not.." The cat's stripes began to fade away, "all there." Only his eyes and teeth remained in view.

Yuffie gasped. "Someone cut off his legs!"

The cat reappeared, miffed. "No, mentally not all there…"

"Someone took out his brain?"

"HE'S OVER THERE!" the cat fumed, pointing to the clearing further along the path.

"Um… thank you." Aerith led Yuffie away and followed the path. They parted leaves from a low branch and came upon a tea party.

At the table, Sephiroth and Count Mako, who was wearing a top hat and monocle, sat at a large table across from the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. They all stared at each other until the Mad Hatter spoke up.

"Surprise! Happy UnBirthday, Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth sat up. "Oh I though you had forgotten!"

"Of course not!" The Mad Hatter said, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to Count Mako. "Why I remember your last Unbirthday as clear as if it were yesterday!"

"It was yesterday," the March Hare said, dipping his saucer into a cup of tea and taking a bite. "Wait, isn't it your Unbirthday, Dormouse?"

"No," came the sleepy reply from the tea kettle in the center of the table.

"What!" both the Mad Hatter and the March Hare exclaimed.

The mouse's head rose from the kettle. "It's my birthday," he said.

Everyone looked at each other in awkward silence, then began clearing the table. The party was ruined.

Taking in the whole scene, Aerith and Cid walked to the table.

Cid looked around disappointed. "Aw spit, he's not… Leon?" He did a double-take at the Leon-shaped man wearing a top hat.

Aerith shook her head. "Oh Leon, what did they do to you…" She blinked. " Sephiroth?"

The Ex-General straightened. "Aerith?"

The awkward silence was stopped when the Mad Hatter offered Cid a cup of sugar with two scoops of tea.

"I'm not going to be able to take it very much longer in this bad acid trip of a world," Cid said, pushing the cup away. "Let's just grab Leon and go."

Sephiroth stood. "You will NOT be kidnapping my partner in crime! Isn't that right…Count Mako?" The seat that once occupied Count Mako/Leon/Squall was empty except for a top hat and monocle.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie pulled a very confused scarred-face man behind her further into the woods.

"What's going on? I thought I was Count Mako. Who are you?"

She grinned. "I'm your girlfriend Yuffie, and your name is Squall."

"Oh… um, what are we doing?"

"We're going to have sex in the bushes, just the way you like it."

"Oh… okay."

They stopped in a meadow and Yuffie shooed away the oddly shaped birds, scattering feathers into the air. She then turned to Leon and pounced, knocking him down. As he landed, he saw a single white feather flutter to the ground.

He blinked, then gasped as his life flashed before his eyes.

The orphanage, Sis, Matron, his friends at Garden, Seifer, Rinoa, Time Compression, Ultemecia, The heartless, Cid, Aerith, Yuffie…

Yuffie…

Yuffie planning to take advantage of him while he was tied to a bed…?

He jumped up as the ninja girl started to unfasten his belts. She looked at him, and backed away as she saw the clarity and rage in his eyes.

"Uh oh... Hey there, Squall."

He clenched his teeth and fists. "It's _**Leon**_."

Aerith jumped into the clearing as he raised his fist, his GF-boosted strength returning.

"Leon, NO!"

The SeeD stopped, teeth clenching harder. He turned suddenly and whistled.

Sephiroth came bounding in. "Yes, Count Mako?"

"I need to kill something."

"I know just the place." The ex-general wiggled his nose and both men disappeared with a 'pop' noise.

**. o . o .**

Phil looked glumly at the roster. No one was scheduled to fight for the rest of the night. He lit a cigar and took a puff.

There was a loud popping noise as Sephiroth and Leon appeared in front of him. There was a wild look in the SeeD's eye.

"Phil!" he blurted out, "I need to kill something, anything… You." He took a menacing step towards the satyr.

Phil jumped a little. "Uh... how about I set you up with the Ice Titan."

Leon nodded and stalked into the arena. Phil pulled the lever to release the titan. He offered a cigar to Sephiroth as the monster stepped into the arena. Sephiroth blew out a smoke ring as the fight began.

There were a few roars followed by several loud clashes and explosions, then a long, furious series of 'bangs' from a gunblade.

Ice chips sprayed onto Sephiroth and Phil. The cigars fell out of their open mouths.

**End of Episode #6**

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I finished this right before my self-imposed deadline of January. It might not get posted in time, but I put it in on time!

Thanks again to my editor, who got me to finish this on time.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Beauty and the Beast**


	7. Episode 7

Hey…remember when I said I'd definitely make one story a month? …Now, remember how it's been like…three months without a new one? Well, I know now that the internet hates me, what with all the shutting down and not working for weeks. However, I still apologize for the delay. Also, I'd like to thank T.C.O. for pointing out the problem on the fourth chapter (it should be fixed now).

Oh, you might notice how this one's a little more serious, um…yeah…Enjoy!

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode #7: Beauty and the Beast .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"_We now return to Taxicab Confessions."_

"_Hey, get me to Old McDonald's."_

"_Sure thing. Hey, aren't you Clarabelle Cow?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Do you do anything wacky?"_

"Real smooth." Leon was curled into his favorite chair, in his favorite blanket, doing his favorite after-patrol activity: nothing. He had just come back from one of the worst nights of heartless attacks he'd ever seen.

"_Well…sniff when I'm alone at night…I wear leather!"_

"_Yowza, that's weird."_

Leon's mind kept wandering back to the night's attacks. Why had there been so many? _There have been more and more every night I've gone out this week…_

At that point, Yuffie burst into the apartment. "Leon! Trouble at the old Moogle place!"

Leon stood. "What is it?"

"Some moogle got attacked by the heartless on the way to Traverse Town."

Leon grabbed his gunblade and followed the ninja to the synthesis shop.

Inside the shop, Leon found a purple and pink striped moogle lying on the ground. He was coated in cuts and bruises and being tended to by Aerith and the Fairy Godmother. Cid sat at the table and Mogricka and Moorock fluttered about, trying to help the healers.

Leon went to the wounded moogle. "What happened?"

Mosh looked up. "This is Art. He was attacked on the way to town."

Leon looked over the injuries with a trained eye. "You were chased. If this was one attack, they would have finished you off…"

Art nodded. "They chased me all the way here."

Leon frowned. "The heartless aren't usually that aggressive… Why were you coming here?"

The moogle glanced at Mosh, who nodded. He then spoke up. "I deliver for Mognet."

Leon had heard the of Mognet, the moogle-run mail system. He had even seen some of the mail. It was about a tea party… a three year long tea party… hardly worthy of the Heartless' attention.

"Who were you delivering to?"

Art hesitated, but was spoke up when he saw Mosh nod again. "The King."

"Well, that explains it," Yuffie spoke up from her spot by on the table, she jumped down and started to pace. "But how would the Heartless know it was for the King?"

"The King has asked that we keep an eye out for heartless activity," Mosh explained. "If they found out, all traveling moogles could be targeted."

"Or they knew you had an important message," Aerith said as she finished bandaging the purple moogle's wounds.

"Either one isn't good," Leon figured. "What was the message?"

"I don't know," Art said, holding the envelope in his hands. "I can't open it until it's delivered. I need to finish my duty." He tried to stand.

The fairy godmother had just finished putting her wand away when she frowned at the moogle's movements. She pushed him back down. "You aren't going anywhere for a few days."

"What? I need to deliver my message!" Art squirmed under the unrelenting fairy's firm grip.

The old woman frowned further at his continued squirming and spoke. "Can't one of you do it?" she asked, looking at the other moogles.

The three looked at each other.

"Inventory tonight," Mosh said a little too quickly, "We can't leave until everything's accounted for." The others nodding in agreement. Then they all looked at Leon.

The SeeD groaned. "I'll go."

"Maybe I should go as well," Aerith said, standing from the ground and gathering up her supplies.

"Oh! Me too!" Yuffie hopped up and down a few times and waved her arms.

Leon frowned. The last thing he wanted was Yuffie tagging along. "Someone needs to take care of the town… The heartless are getting worse here."

The Fairy Godmother spoke up, "Merlin and I can watch over things here."

Yuffie grinned. Leon scowled.

"Fine. We'll leave as soon as you're all ready."

**. o . o .**

Leon piloted the Ragnarok towards the landing pad of the castle. The SeeD looked at the large building. It jutted into the sky, bright and shining and surrounded by gardens and chirping birds. The towers were all slightly crooked, an architectural quirk Leon had never inquired about. Next to him, Aerith sat at the communications panel, dealing with the protocol associated with approaching the well-guarded planet. Yuffie milled around, turning over the letter that the injured moogle had given her in her hand.

Soon they had landed. Leon and the others walked off the ramp. Leon made a face and stepped over a few mops carrying buckets as they headed towards the gates. When they got there, they were met by the captain of the guard and the court magician.

"What's the big deal?" Donald Duck asked as they approached.

"We've got a message for the king from Mognet," Yuffie said, holding up the letter.

"Mognet?" Goofy said, looking at Donald, "The King said to send in any Mognet messages right away."

The magician nodded, "Come on." The duck and the dog led the three humans into the throne room.

**. o . o .**

"Ho Ho! I didn't know you delivered for Mognet."

The king sat up in his throne, accepting the letter Yuffie handed him.

"The moogle who was going to deliver it was ambushed by heartless," Leon explained, arms crossing over his chest. "He's recovering in Traverse Town."

The king's smile faded as he listened. He opened the letter and began reading. A frown grew on his face.

"Well, what does it say?" Yuffie asked.

"It's from Stiltzkin."

"What did he say?" Aerith asked.

"He's come into some trouble on the world he's been watching lately," the king frowned further, "He was supposed to be sending information on heartless movements in the area. It troubles me that he couldn't get the message to me himself." The king frowned, then looked at the three before him. "Leon, can I ask you to retrieve him? The moogles have been an invaluable source of information and I don't want one to be lost."

The SeeD held back a scowl and nodded. "We'll get him out."

The king nodded. "The planet, France, is a primitive world. You all know about the Prime Directive of course. Do not spread technology or knowledge of other planets to the locals." The king was answered with a chorus of nodding heads. "Stiltzkin being trapped troubles me. Get him out, but be wary that this world itself may be in danger."

"We'll do what we can," Aerith spoke up, causing the king to give her a grim smile.

"Thank you. Chip and Dale will program the coordinates into your ship."

Leon uncrossed his arms and nodded. "We'll leave right away."

**. o . o .**

Aerith stared out the cockpit nervously at the stars zooming by. She looked down at her hands and frowned. She had absentmindedly undone her braid. Re-braiding it, she heard a beeping alarm and looked at her console. "Leon, we're approaching the coordinates."

Leon looked at the screen to see the planet come into focus ahead of them.

Planet France hung in the sky as it was supposed to, however it was blocked off by a fleet of heartless ships. They all seemed to turn at the Ragnarok at the same time. Leon could see the guns on the ships start to charge, and the SeeD snapped into action.

"Yuffie, strap yourself in and stay out of the way. Aerith, power up the weapons." Leon wasted no time as he jumped into the pilot seat. He set the ship into a dive as the heartless guns all spilled their lasers at them. The SeeD managed to avoid major damage, but the rear of the ship sputtered as it took a volley of hits.

Yuffie clung to her seat as the ship shook. "We're not gonna make it!"

Ignoring her, Leon dodged and swerved past a few intercepting ships. Turning his attention toward the rest of the fleet, he set a course directly through it toward the planet at top speed.

"Open fire!"

Aerith responded quickly, and the Ragnarok's guns tore through the ships directly in front of it. Leon piloted through the hole they had opened up in the blockade. They were once again pelted with laser fire as more heartless turned to pursue them. Leon grimaced at the damage to his ship.

They had nearly made it through the fleet when a single ship rammed them from below. Warning sirens blared as the ship was rocked by the impact.

The planet came into view ahead.

"Leon, we're coming in too fast!" Aerith yelped.

"The controls are damaged. I can't slow down!" Leon struggled with the steering as the ground rushed up toward them.

"Hold on to something!" Aerith yelled.

The ship hit a line of trees and something exploded.

**. o . o .**

Aerith let out a groan, sitting up. She found herself still strapped to her seat. Shaking her head she looked around and found her companions where she had last seen them. Detecting the smell of smoke, Aerith unbuckled herself and stood to check on Yuffie, and found she was waking up as well.

The younger girl rubbed her head and looked up. "Hey…we're not dead?"

"No, we're not," Aerith replied, helping the unsteady ninja to unfasten herself from her seat. "Are you hurt?"

"Not badly." Yuffie stood and stretched. She only had a few bruises, but the Ancient cast a quick Cure spell anyway. "What about Leon?"

"I'm okay," The SeeD called from where he had landed. He ran a hand through his hair, found no blood and stood. Seeing that the other two were unhurt, he headed for the door. "Come on. We need to see how bad the damage is."

Searching the ship, they found no serious damage until they reached the engine room, where the other ship had torn through the hull. Leon made a face at the mess of gears and gummi littering the room.

"Well, the engine's busted…" Yuffie gave Leon an apologetic grin when he glared at her. "Can you fix it?"

"No," the SeeD grumbled, wishing for Zell. The surprisingly apt mechanic could have easily pieced the engine back together, gummi or not.

Aerith poked a wiggling engine piece. "We'll need to find help."

"There's a village a couple hundred yards away to the west," Yuffie said.

"Let's go," Leon said, heading back to the cockpit for his gunblade.

**. o . o .**

The three started into the village. As they walked, the townspeople stopped what they were doing and stared at them. Leon's eyes widened. He knew the look they were giving him meant; they were about to sing…

_**Strangers to town are here.**_

_**They seem nothing to fear.**_

_**What style of clothing do they wear?**_

_**And my what odd hair.**_

Leon tried very hard to ignore the singing people around him as he looked for a place to hide. He passed by three blonde girls who appeared to be triplets. They all looked at each other, then back at Leon.

_**Who is this new one in town?**_

_**What mystery is behind that frown?**_

_**So cute and full of class.**_

_**And my what a nice ass.**_

Gaston the hunter had been watching the three enter town. He had been admiring the two girls until he heard the triplets singing about the man. He frowned and looked at Leon, then at the gaggle of people surrounding him. That was his crowd!

_**This stranger is suspicious and no good.**_

_**Things aren't as the should.**_

_**I won't stand for it near my home.**_

_**I'll cap him in his dome!**_

"Crazy town full of singing people, out of my way!" Leon pushed through the crowd, desperately looking for a place to hide. He saw a sign over one of the doorways with a book on it and ducked under the triplet women, jumping through the door. He slammed it closed behind him as the women started to reach for him.

The old shop keeper looked up from the pile of books he was putting away as Leon entered.

"Hello there, son. What can I do for you?"

The SeeD frowned. "Get me away from the townspeople."

The shop keep laughed, picking up a few books and putting them on the shelf. "That won't be a problem here. Not too many venture into this store. Is there something you're looking for?" The older man had said the last part in an odd way, causing Leon to turn.

"What?"

The old man grinned. "We don't get too many strangers around here. There was on a little bit ago, a short fellow who came here a few weeks ago. He didn't stay too long. I haven't seen him in a while."

Leon's frown grew. "What did he look like?"

"Two feet tall, white and fuzzy, answered to the name Stiltzkin." The old man grinned again.

"Do you know where he is?"

The shop clerk frowned at that. "I'm afraid not. You may be able to find out more about him around town, he was kind of hard to miss…"

Leon frowned at the prospect of questioning the other villagers. "Do you know where I could get damages to my…vessel repaired? I've had a little trouble…"

The book keeper grinned oddly again. "You may want to talk to old Maurice, the inventor. He can help you with your problem."

Leon went back to the door, still slightly confused. "Thank you."

The bookstore owner nodded as he left.

**. o . o .**

"Now where did Leon get to?" Aerith said, looking around now that the townspeople had finished their song and gone off to there business. The two girls had been left alone and quickly realized they were missing their moody leader.

Gaston, seeing the two young women alone, was about to make his move on them when he was knocked into by their companion leaving the book store.

"What brings you here, stranger?" He asked, pretending to be civil.

"…" Leon merely glared at the man.

"We don't get many travelers here, especially with such lovely companions," he said, glancing at the women. "So what are you? Their brother? Servant?"

"…" Leon started to walk away when the woodsman stopped him.

"Answer me when I talk to you!"

Yuffie and Aerith noticed the two nearly coming blows further away. The younger woman got a good look at Gaston and smiled, rushing up to them.

"Boys, boys, there's no need to fight." The ninja stepped between them, facing Gaston. "Hey there, handsome. I'm Yuffie. How about a tour of town?"

Gaston smiled, flashing his perfect teeth and forgetting about Leon's rude behavior. "Why of course." He linked his arm in Yuffie's and walked away with her.

Leon watched them leave, frown spreading on his face.

"What was that about?" Aerith asked, walking up to the SeeD. "Is Yuffie going to be safe with that guy?"

Leon watched the ninja walk of, arms linked with the hunter who had just threatened him. "She knows what she's doing."

Aerith nodded after a moment, satisfied. Leon stopped a man passing by carrying a tray of bread. "Where's the inventor's house?"

"Maurice? Over there." The baker pointed an elbow towards a house just out of town. "Good luck with that loon." He laughed as he walked off

"Come on Aerith," Leon said. "That 'loon' may be able to help us."

**. o . o .**

Aerith hadn't finished the second rap on the cottage door when it was flung open. A short, round man with maps sticking out of his coat started leaving the house.

"Excuse me, I have to go!"

Leon and Aerith looked at each other.

"Wait a minute," Aerith said, what's going on, sir?"

The man stopped only a moment. "It's my daughter. She's been locked up by a beast in a castle! I've got to save her!"

"We don't have time for this," Leon muttered, turning to leave.

"Wait, maybe we can help." Aerith frowned at the face she got from Leon in return for her suggestion, "If we help you, can you fix our ship?"

Maurice made a face. "Ship?" His mouth hung slack as Aerith pointed to the spaceship, visible all the way across town. "I uh… I guess I could take a look at it."

Aerith looked at Leon.

He frowned, but nodded. "Fine."

Maurice jumped. "Oh thank you. Thank you!" He went back the house and grabbed a tool box. He soon was heading for the ship and still sputtering thanks.

"Wait!" Aerith called after him, "Where's the castle?"

"Over there," the old man pointed beyond his house.

Leon and Aerith looked out past the dark woods outside the house. In the distance, a lightning strike illuminated an ominous castle on a hill.

"Oh, there it is," Aerith said.

Leon sighed. "Come on."

**. o . o .**

Aerith ran through the old gate, followed by Leon, who quickly closed it behind them. They stood there for a moment catching their breaths. Those wolves had almost gotten them…

Leon looked up at the ancient, forsaken castle. The windows were dark and empty. Everything was quiet. "I don't think anyone's here…"

"You may be right," Aerith sighed. "Maybe this is the wrong place."

Leon turned and started to open the gate, then closed it quickly as a snarling wolf jumped at it, clawing through the bars.

"Okay," Aerith said, taking a few steps back. "Let's go check out the castle."

Leon nodded, and the two started up the path. At the door, Aerith used the knocker. After a few moments of silence, she looked at Leon, who shrugged. She tried the doorknob, which opened to a dark hallway. Leon stopped Aerith from stepping in and went in himself, drawing his gunblade.

The SeeD signaled for Aerith to stay and crept into the darkness. He paused a moment, absorbing the noises from the creaky mansion before he moved on. Once he was certain that the hall was empty, he turned to give Aerith the "all-clear" signal, only to find her standing right behind him.

"I told you to stay at the door," the man grumbled.

Aerith gave him a look. "No you didn't, you waved at me."

Leon nearly slapped his forehead. He had forgot Aerith wasn't a SeeD. He bit back a grumble. That was a foolish mistake, one that could have killed him or Aerith. He took a breath and looked at the woman. "Okay, follow me."

She nodded and readied her staff. They walked further into the castle. As they passed a table, Leon heard a whisper and quickly turned. All he saw was a candelabra and a clock on a table. He kept moving and heard the whisper again. He looked and found the same sight greeting him. He walked to the table and picked up the candelabra, blowing out the flames.

"No need to be rude, Monsieur," the candle said, causing Leon to drop it. It blinked and relit the flames on its head and arms. "I am Lumiere, and this is -"

"That's enough, Lumiere!" the clock said, hopping angrily. "The master won't tolerate any more intruders!"

"Master?" Aerith said, having approached the table. "Can we talk to him?"

"But of course, Mademoiselle," Lumiere said, pointing towards one of the doors. "If you wait in here, we will fetch him."

Leon and Aerith went into the sitting room as the candelabra dragged the sputtering clock off to find their master. Leon looked around the richly adorned room and settled on standing by the fireplace. "What do you think?"

Aerith sat at the chair by the fire. "This is an impressive castle. Maybe its master can give us some information."

The SeeD nodded, staring into the fire. He heard a creak and a growl and turned, drawing his gunblade. In the doorway a shadow loomed. It pounced, heading directly for Leon. The SeeD held his gunblade straight out. Had his attacker not dodged a moment sooner, he would have been impaled. The shadow jumped away and swiped a clawed hand out, which Leon ducked under.

Swinging out, Leon nearly caught the attacker's side, but instead entangled his gunblade in its cape. The SeeD let go and rolled under another swing. He grabbed his weapon from the ground and swung at the shadowy figure's legs. Jumping back, the figure landed by the fireplace.

The SeeD heard Aerith gasp, and saw his attacker as the fire illuminated his face. To Leon, it looked like a furry behemoth. It stood on its hind legs and wore clothing, and its eyes were intelligent. The SeeD lowered his blade.

"You fight well," the creature grunted.

"…You too."

Aerith stood, seemingly unconcerned by the fight the men had, "You must be the master of this castle. I'm Aerith, this is Leon."

"…They call me Beast."

**. o . o .**

Yuffie looked around Gaston's house, making a face a all the rough leather and antler décor. The hunter had offered to buy her dinner later today, but the foolish man had left his door unlocked. Yuffie had let herself in to 'borrow' a few things.

The ninja peeked around the corner and found Gaston speaking to a figure in a black cloak. The huntsman seemed very interested in what the hissing, whispering voice was saying.

"Belle? What does she have to do with this?" the hunter asked. He was answered by more whispers.

"So that's where she's been hiding." More whispering. "Fine. I'll lead you to the castle. But Belle is mine."

Yuffie leaned in closer to get a better look at the mysterious figure. Its face was shrouded by its hood, but the symbol on its robe was all too familiar.

"Heartless!" Yuffie whispered. "I need to tell the guys!" She started for the door, then paused to grab a few expensive-looking items and hurried off.

**. o . o .**

Leon kept a grumble to himself as a coat hanger presented him a soup in a bowl that smiled at him. Aerith had spoken first when they were asked to dinner, accepting before he could refuse. Their host had been joined by his other 'guest' , Belle.

Aerith had been quick to find out that Belle was Maurice's daughter. After hearing their situation, Aerith promised to make sure Belle's father was updated when they left.

The SeeD held back another grumble. Aerith was getting too good as guessing his actions. The former flower girl treated him just as Quistis did. Irritating as it was, it was somewhat comforting. Leon looked up as the Lumiere cleared his throat and started to dance.

"Be, our gu-"

"Stop!" Beast and Leon said at the same time. They looked at each other as Belle and Aerith giggled. Lumiere grumbled and the plates made unhappy noises as they went back to dinner.

"Have there been any attacks or strange occurrences lately?" Aerith asked as the main course was served.

"Actually, there have been strange creatures lurking in the woods," Belle said, looking at Beast, who nodded.

Leon and Aerith looked at each other. That didn't sound good.

"Oh," Aerith looked up. "I forgot, we've been looking for-"

As she spoke, one of the doors opened and a moogle came into the room. He sat at an extra spot at the table and picked up his fork and knife.

"Am I late for dinner?"

Aerith and Leon looked at each other again.

"Stiltzkin?" Aerith asked, the moogle looked at her.

"Yes? Oh, are you guys my ride?"

"Yes, we are. I see you're not in such dire condition as your letter implied," Aerith pointed out. At that, the moogle's ears twitched.

"Perhaps we can discuss that after dinner."

Something in his tone made Leon frown. He didn't like the sound of that…

**. o . o .**

"What's going on here?" Leon asked. He, Aerith, and Stiltzkin stood in an empty corridor. Belle had taken the hint and asked the Beast to accompany her for a moment away from the others.

"The heartless are getting more numerous and more powerful each day," the little moogle answered grimly.

"Just how bad is it?" Aerith asked.

"This world is going to fall just as soon as they find the keyhole."

Leon's jaw tightened. The keyhole. Every world had a heart, the king had told him, and every heart had a keyhole. Until it was locked, the world was in danger. But only the keyblade could do that.

"Do you know where it is?"

Stiltzkin shook his head. "I haven't been able to find it. I thought it might be in this castle. It's hard to search without something watching here…"

Leon pushed himself off the door. "We need to find it and protect it…"

"We don't even know where to look-" Aerith gasped as she heard a crash for a floor down. A moment later, Leon detected the distinct chattering noise of Shadows, heartless soldiers.

"Looks like they know." Leon drew his gunblade and ran. By the time he got to the bottom of the stairs, heartless were pouring in from the main doors. He jumped off the banister and came down on a wizard. He discharged the gunblade as he struck. The mid-sized heartless let out a screech and disappeared in a plume of smoke, heart shadow flying out of its body.

Leon turned and found a Defender bearing down on him. He ducked as it lunged its shield at him. He kept dodging as the shield was thrust out to him. Jumping and rolling, the SeeD managed to get around to the other side of the creature. He swung down, cutting into the monster but hardly effecting it.

King Mickey had once told Leon that the heartless were different from ordinary monsters. These creatures were stronger and better guarded due to their nature. Only one weapon was meant to fight them, therefore others weren't as effective. Leon's search for the Keyblade had thus far been empty-handed. However, he had grown stronger and more able to deal with the attackers with brute force. He unleashed a flurry of blows which knocked the defender down, then finished it off.

"Back up the stairs!" Aerith shouted. The SeeD noticed there were too many enemies to deal with where they were. When they reached the top, they found Beast fighting off more attackers. Together, they fought off most of this first wave. A scream came from further down the corridor as more heartless poured in.

"Belle!" Beast roared. He turned to Leon. "Get out of here. I'll get Belle."

Leon frowned and nodded. "Get to the town. We'll meet you there." The Beast merely nodded and bounded off in the direction of Belle's scream.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie rushed through the open doors of the castle. "Leon, Aerith, there's heartless on planet!" She heard fighting further up into the castle. She ran up a set of stairs and found her comrades fighting a horde of heartless.

"Oh, never mind." She threw her shuriken at an oncoming shadow.

"Yuffie, where did you come from?" Aerith asked while dodging a Large Body.

"Town. I got you an antler lamp." the ninja hopped over a group of shadows and whacked a Soldier that was sneaking up on Leon. "Hey, do you guys know a 'Belle?'"

"Belle?" Aerith said, healing a wound on Leon. "Beast just went off to look for her."

"Beast?" Yuffie hopped off a defender's back and cast fire on him as she retreated, "Who's that?"

"The guy who owns the place." Leon chopped down on a group of Shadows. "What about Belle?"

"That jerk hunter guy's got some plan to nab her." The ninja jumped out of the way of an ice ball.

"Beast can take care of her." Leon bit back a curse as he got hit with the ice ball Yuffie had just dodged.

"Well, the thing is, he got the bright idea to go after her from some heartless guy." She grinned sheepishly at Leon as he brushed frost off his arm and popped open a potion bottle.

"What?" Leon nearly spit out the potion he just drank.

"I'm pretty sure he was either heartless or at least worked with them, I-" the ninja was cut off as more Shadows surrounded her. Aerith clubbed a few with her rod and stood back-to-back with her younger friend as more enemies poured in.

"We can't stay in here, there's too many. The town may be under attack as well," Aerith called after Leon. He nodded, face grim, and cut a way towards the stairs. The group ran for the door and Leon noticed Aerith shoving any of the living furniture she could grab into her bag as she went.

His face hardened to a grimace. Aerith's instincts were rarely wrong. She felt this world was coming to an end and she was trying to save as many lives as possible. As they reached the doors that left the building, Leon scooped up Lumiere, who was flailing about.

The SeeD pushed ahead of the girls and worked the flask out of his jacket. He opened the door. Beyond it were a dozen Darkballs. Taking a drink, he held up the candelabra and spit flame at the mob, who all screamed and dissipated

Leon handed the dazed candlestick to Aerith, who tucked him away. They continued on towards the town.

"What about Belle and Beast?" Stiltzkin yelled from Yuffie's bag, where he had jumped in as soon as the fighting started.

"We can't help them!" Leon shouted over his gunblade's discharge. "We can only hope they make it into town before it's too late!"

**. o . o .**

"Let her go!" The Beast roared at Gaston, who had been cornered by the former prince. The Huntsman had the unconscious Belle over his shoulder.

"She is mine!" The irate man held her tightly. "Nothing you can do will change that!" As he screamed at the beast, a swirl of darkness formed behind him. Gaston turned to see his ally, the Phantom, materialize.

"You? What are you doing here!"

"You have served your purpose," it hissed in reply.

The heartless circled him once and struck, grabbing Belle and shoving the huntsman away. Before Gaston or Beast could react, the Phantom disappeared with Belle in tow.

"NOOOOOO!" Beast roared into the ever darkening sky.

**. o . o .**

Leon paused a moment from his running, could have sworn he heard a cry. He was now starting to notice how dark the sky was and the smell of sulfur in the air. The SeeD wasn't going to admit to himself that the world was as good as gone yet. There were still signs that hadn't shown up.

"LEON!"

The man turned at Aerith's horrified cry. Both of his comrades were staring upwards. Leon felt his stomach do a flip as he looked up and saw the towering figure of a Darkside, the heartless' herald to a dying world.

**To be continued…**

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Two-parter? Hot damn!

the next installment should be out soon…as long as I get it done before episode 3 comes out…cough

Hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Beauty and the Beast Part Two…Electric Boogaloo**


	8. Episode 8

Wow it's been a while…but I'm back, and I'm finally done with this bastard. I finally pumped this baby out in celebration of a US release date of Kingdom Hearts 2: March 1st! Also, I found today that They've put in Scrooge! And Leon all up ons!…Don't kill me for not posting in a very long time.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode #8 : Beauty and the Beast , part 2 .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

**Last time, on The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie:**

Aerith stood up at the middle of dinner. "Leon, I have a confession… The baby is yours."

**. o . o .**

Leon jumped into the room. "Yuffie, NO! The bomb is in your cereal!"

**. o . o .**

Cid slapped Leon. "You're out of line!"

**. o . o .**

"I can't take it anymore!" Scrooge McDuck jumped off the building, on fire.

**And now the dramatic conclusion****.**o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon looked up at the Darkside which stood before him. The huge monster glared down at the three, then reared up to slam its fists on top of them. The girls both screamed and jumped at the same time.

"Get out of here!" Leon yelled at his younger friends as they stumbled back to their feet.

"What? What about you?" Aerith called back, making sure the living items in her bag were still there. The Darkside slammed its fist into the ground just in front of Yuffie, and the ground started to melt around the wrist.

"GO!" the SeeD shouted, and the girls ran toward the town, needing no further encouragement.

Leon watched the girls run off, once they were safely away, he turned and faced the giant apparition, who's arm was still thrust in the ground. The SeeD commander's eyes grew wide as the earth around him turned black and diseased. The fear he had been keeping at bay boiled into rage, and with a roar he launched himself at the huge heartless in front of him.

The monster at first didn't notice as Leon sliced down on its wrist. After a few more chops, the heartless reared and looked down on its attacker. It made an unnatural wail and slammed down into the ground again, aiming for the man swinging at its legs.

Leon dodged nearly being crushed by the blow, he recovered and went back to swinging at the wrist when he noticed a sphere of dark energy form in the corner of his vision. He turned just as the crackling ball flew at him. It collided with the SeeD and sent him into a nearby tree.

The man stayed where he was, unmoving for a few moments as the shock coursed through him. He looked up at the Darkside, which had gone back to corrupting the ground around it, thinking its attacker dead.

Leon, who had decided to ignore the slight crunching noise in his shoulder, stood and marched back to the shadow goliath and sunk his gunblade into the monster's forearm and shot a round into its murky flesh. The monster let out a roar and slammed down in Leon's direction, only to meet air as the man dodged. It reared up and sent another globe of dark energy towards Leon. The SeeD backpedaled, but bounced into a tree he hadn't realized was behind him. The ball struck Leon directly in the chest. He fell back against the tree and slid down.

The Darkside lumbered closer and reached for him. He was weakened, and there was nowhere to dodge. This was it. This was the end…

"_But we must fight til the end_…" spoke a familiar voice into his mind.

What?…

Bright white punctured by black lines. The lines formed into an outline of a man on a horse.

…

The huge man moved closer into his line of vision before it swirled and went completely white. A few moments later, it cleared completely.

Behind the gigantic heartless was Odin, sitting on his horse, pointing his sword at the black creature before him. Time seemed to stop for a moment and Leon could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand. A blinding flash of lightning struck and when the spots faded from Leon's eyes, the two neatly-cleaved halves of the Darkside fell apart and dissipated.

Odin turned to leave, but Leon stood.

"I thought you were dead." Leon said to the Guardian before him, who he had seen cleaved in half, eight years ago.

The god stopped, looking at Leon for a moment, then spoke in a booming voice, _"What is a warrior without battle? One must continue to fight, even when all hope is lost."_

**. o . o .**

"Yuffie…I think we should go look for Leon. He's been gone too long." Aerith looked around worriedly. The SeeD had been gone for nearly an hour. The two women had spent that time convincing the villagers to evacuate to the Ragnarok.

The ninja was stopping an old woman from wheeling an armoire into the ship, "I'm sure he's fine."

Aerith frowned at that. "I don't know…"

Before she could finish her thought, the SeeD in question crashed through the bushes on the edge of town, breathing hard and covered in wounds.

"See, he's fine," said Yuffie.

"Leon! What happened?" Aerith asked, running up to him. Yuffie followed a moment later.

"Darkside. Odin. Slice. Guts everywhere…" he gasped as the girls looked at each other, perplexed.

"O…kay… Let's finish evacuating the townspeople." Aerith said, and started off when she saw Leon nod. There were few people left running around, gathering their possessions. The town had been in a panic with the girls had shown up. Heartless were already attacking at the borders of town. By the time they had been cleared out, the terrified townspeople were willing to trust these strangers to help them.

"Is the Ragnarok fixed yet?" Leon yelled as he checked the last house on his side, finding it abandoned.

"Uh…sure?" Yuffie called as she herded children onto the ship.

"Great…" Leon frowned as he looked back and saw a villager head back the way they came. He broke off from the group to retrieve the man, frown growing as he went. It didn't take him long to recognize the bookshop owner ducking into his shop. Leon grumbled and went in after him.

Leon's frown deeped as he found the man rummaging in the shelves. "We have to get out of here," the SeeD said simply as the man continued his search.

"Wait, a moment, I need to get my books!" He grabbed a few books from the shelf and dug around the stack of papers on the desk.

"We don't have time for this," Leon growled. The bookshop owner didn't stop.

"Just a moment, just a moment." The man filled a bag with the books he had gathered. "There we go." He handed the stuffed bag to Leon, who grunted at the weight.

"What is all this?"

The old man smiled as they walked out of the shop. "First editions, irreplaceable, and a few books of interest."

Aerith had waited outside the shop for them, but had caught the man's last remark. "Books of interest?"

"Yes, old things full of interesting information. Like tales of dark shadow creatures and such."

Leon scowled, but Aerith looked up at the man "…You mean the Heartless?"

"Yes indeed."

Leon stopped at that, looking at the older man. "Heartless? Do you work for the king here?"

The older man laughed, "No, I'm just an old scholar, trying to retire peacefully. Not so much luck with that…"

Leon didn't say anything as they reached the Ragnarok. Aerith went inside with bookshop owner as the SeeD looked around the abandoned town for a moment. He sighed and went inside the ship, preparing it for take-off.

"What about Belle and the Beast?" Yuffie called from further in the ship.

"There's no time…" Leon answered, trying not to make eye contact with Bell's father and starting to lift off the ground.

The SeeD commander tried to ignore the wail the old man made as he launched the ship into the now black sky, leaving the doomed world to its fate.

**. o . o .**

"Leon, we haven't been able to contact you. Did you find Stiltzkin?" King Mickey looked concerned as Leon started to make his report from the ship. Leon closed his eyes a moment and tried to speak evenly. "Yes, we got him out, but Planet France has fallen." The SeeD didn't bother to wait for a reply. "We gathered as many people as we could before we left, but we couldn't find the keyhole in time."

The king was silent for a few moments. Leon finally looked up to see how he was reacting. To his surprise, there was a look of grim determination.

"Thank you for your efforts, Leon. I will send Donald and Goofy to retrieve Stiltzkin. I'm sure you and Aerith can attend to the new refugees in Traverse Town."

Leon nodded slowly. There was something the king wasn't saying…

"I will contact you again shortly." King Mickey paused a moment. "Take good care of the town."

"I will," Leon answered. He knew for sure now that something was wrong, but didn't question it. The king bade him farewell and ended the transmission. The SeeD sat back at the controls and looked at Aerith.

"There's something he's not telling us," the man murmured.

"You're right. He's up to something," Aerith said thoughtfully, she sighed and looked at the lift down to the rest of the ship, "I need to go tend to our guests," she got up and left, leaving the SeeD alone in the cockpit.

He stared dully at the stars zooming by, replaying the day's dark events in his head.

**. o . o .**

When the Ragnarok landed at Traverse Town, it didn't take long for the citizens to realize that there we newcomers to tend to. Refugees were given rooms at the hotel or taken by townspeople into their own homes. Those who had been injured were brought to the street near the café to be treated.

Leon oversaw the entire operation; helping the injured walk to the healers, reuniting separated families, finding places for those who's families hadn't made it. Hours melted without his notice as the last of the people were found places to go. He started as someone put a hand on his shoulder.

"Leon," Aerith said softly, "Why don't you get some rest? Everyone's situated, and Donald and Goofy are on their way back with Stiltzkin."

"All right," Leon said reluctantly.

Aerith gave him a supportive smile. "Good, go on then."

**. o . o .**

King Mickey pressed the royal seal into the wax on the envelope, sealing the letter. He tucked it next to another envelope in his robe and stood, going to the throne room where Stiltzkin waited.

"Your majesty." the Moogle bowed. Mickey nodded and he straightened.

"Things are getting worse," the king said and took one of the letters out of his robe pocket. "I'm going away for a while. I need you to deliver this to Leon and Aerith." He handed the letter to Stiltzkin, who took it.

"Where are you going?" the moogle said after slipping the letter into his bag.

"I need to take action now before things get even worse. Do not tell anyone about this."

The moogle nodded and patted his bag.

"I'll deliver the letter."

The king smiled grimly. "Good, take care."

**. o . o .**

Leon trudged out of the bar. He thought to himself to go check on Aerith and Yuffie before he turned in. Aerith had a tendency to forego her own needs when tending to others and she had been hard at work for hours healing the wounded.

He found her sitting in a chair at the café, looking as exhausted as he felt.

"Take a break," he said to her.

"Later," she answered, staring ahead sleepily, "There are more people who need help."

"You're no good to them like this. You need to rest." He watched her gulp down an ether, then drop it onto a pile of empty bottles next to her chair. "Too many of those aren't good for you."

"I don't have time to rest now," she said, stretching and looking more alert with the ether moving through her system. She started to get up, but fell back into the chair, putting a hand to her head. Leon was about to insist again that she rest when she said, "Something's wrong…"

No sooner had she spoken than black portals began to open on the street in front of them and a group of Shadows poured out.

"Damn." Leon drew his blade. "We must have been followed." He moved in front of the building, prepared to defend the wounded refugees, but the heartless completely ignored the café and moved in the other direction. Not stopping to question what was happening, Leon went after them.

He took out a few from the rear, but the others kept on, soon joined by others. They were definitely after something. A few broke off to face their attacker. The SeeD made short work of them before focusing on the main group. He took out most of them, forcing the others to scatter in all directions.

"Great…" Now he would have to hunt them all down. He scanned the area around him. The Shadows had led him to the street in front of the accessory shop. He saw no further sign of them, but did spot something else, a boy wandering the streets. He looked lost but was moving quickly, keeping an eye out and sometimes looking over his shoulder. It looked like he had taken a few hits. Leon wondered if he had been attacked by the heartless, and how he had survived. Then he saw what was in the kid's hand, what had attracted the heartless.

It looked like a sword with a large, ornate handle. But the blade was oddly shaped, like no weapon he had ever seen before. Like a key.

Leon watched as the kid he had nearly ignored walked into the Accessory shop, Keyblade in hand.

"Shit."

**. o . o .**

Leon waited in the shadows outside of the shop, waiting for the Keyblade-toting kid to come back out. His mind was a whirlwind and he tried to decide how approach the potential Keybearer.

No, he might not be the bearer, he might just have the key.

The SeeD tried to ignore how shallow that sounded in his head. At that point, the door to the shop opened. Leon got a good look at the boy this time. He looked like he'd be an average kid where he was from, with spiky hair similar to Cloud's.

Leon took a deep breath and decided he would try once to be nice and give the kid a chance. The vacant look in his eyes caused the SeeD to blurt out, "They'll come at you out of nowhere."

The kid started and turned, "Who are you?"

Leon ignored him. "And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." he stopped and rubbed the bridge of his nose."

"But why?" he looked at the teenaged boy. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

The kid looked insulted. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Leon's patience was waning, and he wasn't in the mood to humor questions. "Never mind," he stepped toward the kid, "Now, let's see that Keyblade," the SeeD heard in his head how menacing he sounded, but no longer cared.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!"

Leon sighed and hefted his gunblade over his shoulder. "All right, then have it your way."

The SeeD launched himself at the younger man, slashing. To his credit, the boy managed to block a few swings. He even managed to get away from the SeeD, which only worsened the older man's mood. He closed his eyes and held out a hand, casting a spell. A ball of fire shot at the kid, who took the hit directly. As the smoke cleared, the boy charged at Leon. As he reached the SeeD, the older man swung at an angle, hitting the boy in the back of the head with the flat of his blade.

The boy took a step back and stood for a moment with a dazed expression, then fell over.

Leon couldn't manage a smile, despite his efforts.

"Hey, you found it. Nice going, Leon," Leon looked over his shoulder at Yuffie, who had been watching from the alley.

"Still," the SeeD looked down on the easily beaten boy, "It looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."

They both looked at the kid for a moment, until Yuffie spoke up. "Well, we'd probably better get him indoors…"

The SeeD reached down for the blade and picked it up. It was a lot lighter than he expected. He gave it a swing and found it to be surprisingly balanced.

"So, is this kid the Keybearer? " Yuffie spoke up, looking at the blade in her older friend's hand.

The SeeD swung again, and the blade vanished from his hand, reappearing next to the unconscious boy.

The two looked at each other, Leon picked up the blade again and backed away. Once it got a certain distance from the boy, it disappeared and then reappeared by the boy's side.

"Looks that way..."

**. o . o .**

Leon dumped the kid on Yuffie's bed in her hotel room. He tried to tone down his glare. _This little punk couldn't be the keybearer… could he?_

_The blade had gone back to him, of course he was the bearer._ Leon took a deep breath and let it out. Some of the turmoil left him, but most of the irritation remained. He glared at the boy hard enough to garner a reaction from Yuffie.

"Jeez, Leon, you're going to bore holes in his head."

Leon didn't answer, he instead left the room. He paced outside the door a few moments, reigning in his temper again. He went back into the room as he heard voices coming from it. As he walked in, he saw the boy sitting up.

"I think you might have overdone it, Squall," said Yuffie, turning away from the kid.

Leon's scowl deepened. "That's Leon." The kid started at him a moment before his eyes wandered to the Keyblade leaning against the wall.

"The Keyblade…" he murmured.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures," Yuffie explained, beginning to pace, "It turns out that's how they were tracking you."

She noted the dazed looked on the kid's face. "It was the only way to conceal your heart from them."

"But it won't work for long," Leon growled as the kid still looked dazed.

The SeeD picked up the Keyblade and gave it a swing. "Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one," as he completed his swing, the blade dissolved from his grip. It reappeared in the boy's hand. Leon scowled.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers…"

**. o . o .**

He watched the boy run off, looking for the leader of this invading heartless party. The SeeD groaned and head towards a small gathering of heartless. He stepped up to them, finally letting a smile come over his face as he found targets he could annihilate without repercussion. The group of shadowy creatures looked at the man approaching them menacingly, and ran.

**. o . o .**

Leon was in the cavern below the town, practicing with his gunblade. He had run out of Heartless to fight hours ago and decided to continue training alone. He needed to keep sharp. And it helped to calm the turmoil in his mind, helped him forget everything that had happened today. He heard someone approach him from behind. He stopped, and only then noticed the aching in his muscles.

"I found the keybearer," he said to his new company.

Aerith moved closer. "I know…"

Leon remained silent, catching his breath.

The girl waited a moment, then spoke up. "And you're wondering why it wasn't you, why you weren't chosen."

Leon stared at the floor for a long time, his back still turned to her. Finally he spoke, his voice cold and emotionless. "I thought my heart would be strong enough…"

_But it wasn't_, he thought silently after trailing off. That was why he couldn't defend that world today. That was why he couldn't save his own world…

Aerith thought for a moment before answering. "Leon… Your heart is strong, one of the strongest I've ever known… But it's been wounded. All the loss you've suffered in your life, all the pain and fear you keep hidden inside, it's hurting you. You try to hide it, you keep yourself closed off from everyone around you, but I can see it, and so can the Keyblade. Your heart needs time to heal. That's why it didn't chose you."

Leon didn't say anything, staring out at the walls of the cavern.

Aerith walked up behind him and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "We have to support him, so that he can succeed. That's what's important now." She gave him another squeeze and left him alone. Leon stared at the cavern walls, lost in his thoughts.

**End of Episode #8**

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I hope you liked it…it's the very slow work of like…eight months…cough

There won't be any more sad stuff in this series…I think.

Thanks again to my editor, he's a nice boy.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Frogged**


	9. Episode 9

So, no reviews, huh? Well, after the seven months or so that I didn't post, I suppose I deserve that. Anyway, this one's a bit more timely, which is all good. This episode has the line that started this whole project, I'll tell you which one it is at the end. Enjoy.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode # 9 : Frogged .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon sat at a table in the café, enjoying a relatively quiet evening. He ignored the cup of what he silently referred to as 'brewed crap,' which was unfortunately the best thing the dive served. Those slight problems aside, they had put a TV in the corner of the counter recently, allowing Leon to catch up on his 'documentaries' while on 'patrol.'

"_Next on Bitch-Off, 'Secret Confessions'"_

"_Eric, I have something to tell you. I'm not really a woman. I'm… a mermaid!"_

"_What! How could you lie to me all this time?"_

"_We've known each other for three days…"_

Chairs started to fly when the program was interrupted. A well-groomed anchorman, donning a 'grave news' face looked up to the camera. _"We interrupt Bitch-Off for this breaking news: Another princess has been kidnapped."_

Leon sat up at that, signaling for the barmaid to turn it up, which she was already in the process of doing.

"_Cinderella, a princess of a previously untouched by heartless world was recently discovered missing by her friends and family. A witness who claimed to see the assailant, drew this image:"_

The screen showed a black and white image of a large creature with a long, hooded cloak. The drawing wasn't the best quality, but it looked suspiciously like a heartless.

"_This princess is the fifth reported missing in recent weeks. Authorities-"_

Leon scowled as he missed the last of the report when the door into town was swung open violently, slamming against the wall. The SeeD's scowl turned lethal when he found the cause of the commotion: Sora, the Keybearer, along with Donald and Goofy lumbered into the town. Leon became painfully aware that he was the only one besides the barmaid in view, and had nowhere to hide.

All three started his way as he contemplated leaping behind the counter of the café and running into the house beyond it.

"Hi Leon!" Sora was nearly dancing from foot-to-foot with excitement. "We found another keyhole!"

"…Good." Leon looked at Donald for help, who nodded and told Goofy and Sora they needed to go to Cid to get their ship outfitted with a new piece they had found. Leon brightened, but sunk back down at Sora's reply.

"You guys go ahead, I need ask Leon a few things." Donald shrugged apologetically and went off with Goofy towards Cid's Gummi stand.

Leon hopelessly watched them go, then looked down at the Keybearer. He was grinning broadly at the SeeD.

"Have you ever been to the jungle planet? It was full of trees!"

Leon closed his eyes and prayed for a heartless attack.

"Did you know that the heartless there looked like monkeys!"

Leon prayed for an earthquake.

"There were boy heartless monkeys and girl heartless monkeys!"

Leon prayed for a Doom spell to hit him.

"They were tough, but I had the keyblade so it was easy to finish them off!"

Leon was tempted to hit himself with a Doom spell.

"The Keyblade is great! It opens stuff and makes it real easy to kill heartless!"

Leon reviewed the spells he had junctioned…10 dooms left…

"I haven't been practicing much, but so far things have been pretty easy."

Leon wondered what being dead would be like. Pretty nice, he bet.

"I'm gonna start practicing more though, I'm going to do my hardest to get rid of the heartless and keep the other worlds safe!"

Leon sighed shaking his head, "…If you need any help, I can teach you how to use that better," he nodded at the Keyblade.

"GREAT! Can we start now?" Leon grimaced, he didn't have the patience at the moment to put up with the kid.

"Let's go see Aerith instead," Leon growled. Sora seemed pleased and Leon had to keep himself from bursting into a full run to get to where he had last seen the girl. The former flower girl was speaking with the Fairy Godmother when Leon found her.

"Aerith." She looked up and smiled at him and Sora in turn. "Sora wanted to talk to you…"

Aerith looked apologetic, "Sorry guys, Fairy Godmother and I are working on how to heal Mr. Lok's Heartless burns."

Leon forced back a scowl and nodded. "We'll leave you alone." He glared at Sora, who followed the older man as he left.

Once they were gone, the Fairy Godmother laughed, "'Heartless burns'?"

Aerith shrugged and picked her copy of 'Mage's Home Journal' back up, flipping to the page she had been reading before the boys showed up.

**. o . o .**

Hours later, Leon watched the trio leave for their recently outfitted gummi ship, and fumed. The kid had tagged along with him for the entire three hours the group had been in town. He stormed for his room, but saw a small musical number break out near the door to the hotel, sung by the alley cats. He turned and started for the Ragnarok, grating his teeth.

As he went, he saw Yuffie was coming his way, he moved to avoid her, but she had already noticed his mood. "Uh, problem?"

Leon worked to keep the irritation out of his voice. "You're in charge. I need to go do something." The man stalked off to his ship.

Yuffie watched him go, starting to cackle. For months she had waited for Leon to slip up and put her in charge. She had such plans for the foolish citizens, so many taxes to impose and collect.

She started off, still cackling, and didn't notice as Sephiroth stepped into town.

**. o . o .**

Leon sat in the castle's library, reading. The queen had told him he was always welcome and ushered him in herself, gently by firmly plying him for information about the King and where Leon might think he went. Leon told her the little he knew.

She left him alone in the huge library shortly after, and the SeeD had spent over an hour looking for a book to read. He had settled on a worn book who's cover had been worn down badly, the only words remaining were '…Through the Looking Glass…'

As he read, Leon started to nod off. The immense irritation he had been suffering from had started to fade. He forced his eyes open and continued;

_**Twas brillig, and the slithy toves**_

_**Did gyre and gimble in the wabe**_

The SeeD fought to keep his eyes open and continued;

_**All mimsy were the borogoves,**_

_**And the mome raths outgrabe.**_

"What's a borogrove?" he wondered sleepily.

_**Beware the Jabberwock, my son!**_

_**The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!**_

Leon's eyes closed again, and he nodded off.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth strolled the streets of Traverse Town, humming delightfully to himself and basking in the cool evening. He walked to the petshop and noticed a black and white cat in the window.

The man grinned at the cat, who pawed at the glass. Sephiroth walked into the store, drawing his blade.

**. o . o .**

Leon was aware of nothing but soft grass under him when he first awoke. It took him a few minutes to realize that he was supposed to be in the Castle Library, not anywhere near grass. He opened his eyes to find that he was in a forest consisting of many brightly colored trees. After further inspection, and seeing a flock of birds that looked like lampshades, Leon concluded he was in Wonderland.

"Perfect." He got off the ground and heard something move behind him. He turned on his heel.

Jabberwock.

The indescribable monster stood there, staring at Leon and licking its fangs. The SeeD grabbed for his gunblade, and found it wasn't there. The creature crouched, preparing to pounce on the unarmed man. Leon grit his teeth and dove into the trees that lined the clearing. Luckily, the beast was large and had to navigate through the trees.

Leon ran through the trees, looking for either a weapon or a place to hide until he came up with a plan. The monster continued to charge after him, roaring and growling. The SeeD continued to run and look for a tree with enough limbs to climb.

Spotting one, he jumped up and grabbed the first branch, climbing up until he had obscured himself in the branches. The monster seemed to have missed him, and searched the area, growling and snarling. The SeeD kept watch below him and tried to think of a plan.

"Ahem."

Leon nearly fell out of the tree he was perched in and looked up. The Cheshire Cat grinned down at him.

"Lost?" The cat mused.

"I don't know how I got here… but how do I get back?"

"'You can't go home again,' Isn't that what they say?"

Leon grimaced. He never could figure out whether or not to trust the grinning cat, but his riddles always hit too close to home. The cat had disappeared and reappeared in the tree further ahead.

"I mean, how do I get back to where I was?"

The Cheshire Cat's body had faded to only stripes and teeth. "You usually turn around and go back the way you came."

Leon thought, "I fell asleep reading and wound up here…" A sheet of paper fluttered down to him. He caught it and looked up to see the cat wink as it faded again.

"I wouldn't get caught by the Jabberwock, It won't just go for the 'heart'." the cat's voice echoed.

Leon didn't want to know what that meant. He quickly scribbled a brief description of the Ragnarok on the paper and looked down for the Jabberwock. It was still searching for him, but was further up the hill. Leon quietly climbed down the branches and slid down the trunk of the tree. He quietly moved further down the hill, looking for a remotely safe spot.

A dark cave was the best he could find, and he rushed into the mouth of it.

"This had better work.." he looked down at the scrap of paper and read it, then cast sleep on himself. As his muscles relaxed and consciousness faded, he heard the Jabberwock's roar.

**. o . o .**

Leon's eyes opened with a start. He sat up in the pilot's seat of the Ragnarok, still parked in the castle's hangar. He let out a breath and leaned back in the seat, relieved his plan had worked. He thought he heard someone enter the cockpit and turned to see who it was.

Jabberwock.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth picked up the black cat as the nervous store clerk walked up to him, "Oh, that's Figaro. He was sold here by his master." He quickly continued at the look Sephiroth gave him, "The old guy couldn't pay the bills, so he had to choose between the cat and a puppet of a small boy he made."

Sephiroth's eyebrows rose at that, but looked at the cat. "Can you be evil in the face of sheer innocence, and smite the good?" The cat seemed to think a moment, then clearly shook its head at the man.

"Will you do it for food?" The cat nodded without hesitation.

"Excellent. I'll take him, shopkeep," The nervous man nodded and went to the register. Sephiroth glared. "I'll take him."

"Oh, uh, no charge."

"Good." The ex-general tucked the cat under his arm and walked out. When he got out the door, he found he was faced by a surly-looking frog.

"Why hello there, little frog," Sephiroth made to step on the frog, but at the last moment, it sidestepped and slapped him on the leg. The white-haired man disappeared in a poof of smoke, dropping the cat which hissed and ran. The smoke cleared to reveal a brightly-colored frog.

Frog Sephiroth looked at himself and at the other frog, then grinned, ribbitting merrily as he hopped off.

**. o . o .**

Having finally left the castle, Leon still found that he wasn't ready to go home. He piloted the Ragnarok toward the Coliseum, hoping a little practice would cheer him up. The SeeD landed and stepped out of the ship, wandering to the coliseum's lobby to find a board over the door of the main gate and a sign that read "Closed for repairs."

"…"

The SeeD walked to the backroom and heard someone moving in the infirmary, he walked in and found a few nurses around the bed. One looked up and waved him over.

"He could use a friendly face," the woman said as Leon stepped up. She stepped aside and Leon looked down on Cloud, who was covered in bandages from head to toe.

"What happened to you?"

The blond man looked up at his older friend. "Oh, Hercules is in one of his moods."

"…."

**. o . o .**

Aerith started down the alley for the third district. She was going to clean up the abandoned house. Now that Sora and his group where working to eradicate the heartless, she figured that they could use a secret place to stay when they were in town.

As she walked down the alley, she started to hum. As she did, some of the stray cats started to follow her. The girl started to sing, continuing down the road. As she did, a group of rabbits followed with the cats. By the time she reached the house, a family of deer, three raccoons, a whole group of chipmunks, fifteen mice and ostrich had joined the animals already following her.

When she went into the house, she started to sing again:

_**Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning house,**_

_**Getting help from cat and mouse.**_

As she sang, the animals filed in and started cleaning with her.

_**This house was abandoned by an odd man,**_

_**Who used to keep his teeth in a can.**_

The raccoons started to scrub the floor with their tails as Aerith opened the closet door.

_**There are skeletons in the closet, literally,**_

_**I guess the old man's mind wasn't there, fully.**_

The chipmunks stacked refuse in boxes that the deer pushed out of the room.

_**Garbage everywhere and-**_

Aerith stopped as she heard a loud, off-key ribbet. She looked down to see a strange-looking frog hopping insistently to get her attention. She scooped him up, "What's wrong, little guy?"

The frog did a series of pantomimed expressions. Aerith nodded after a moment.

"Oh, I see. You're a cursed prince, and if I kiss you, you turn back to your real form?" The frog nodded. "Okay, I'll help you." She bent over to kiss the frog. She then disappeared into a puff of smoke. Sephi-frog ribbeted at the new pink frog, who glared back at him, and hopped off.

**. o . o .**

Cid was on the floor under a large heavy piece of gummi, working a broken piece off. As he did, a frog hopped up to him.

"What the hell do you want?" the astronaut yelled at the frog. The frog slapped him and hopped off as Cid disappeared and a blue and yellow frog replaced him.

**. o . o .**

Leon wandered back into the castle library, having just escaped from another lecture from the Queen about being careful with the books. Something had been bothering him today, and he aimed to look into it. He searched the stacks of periodicals for a half hour, getting all the newspapers he could find that contained information of the heartless.

He flipped through the articles until he found an entries on the kidnapped princesses. Frowning at the scant information, he made copies of whatever he could find concerning their abductor, described as a large, cloaked figure.

**. o . o .**

Sephi-frog hopped to an alley, where the band nerds of Traverse Town were congregating.

"This band sucks," one said, throwing down his trumpet.

The boy next to him sighed, "We only have two trumpets, a broken flute and a fiddle…who ever heard of a fiddle in a band?"

"Screw this. I'm gonna go get high."

At that point, the frog ribbited loudly. The boys looked down at him, and he looked up.

"Hey, a frog. Let's blow it up!" The boy held up a fire cracker, but back away when the frog glared at him.

Another boy leaned down to get a better look. "I've never seen a black and pink frog before…Do you think it's poisonous?"

One boy perked up at that. "Hey, maybe its one of those ones you lick to get high!"

He scooped up the frog, who winked at him. He licked it on the back, and nearly dropped him.

"Whoooooooooa!" He turned into a frog. The remaining boys looked at the two frogs.

"DUDE! It's already working!" The next boy scooped up one of the frogs and licked it, soon turning into a frog himself. The boys all took turns getting frogged. Soon there was a pile of frogs hopping around. One licked the pink and black frog, who disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Sephiroth appeared a moment later, laughing at the pile of frogs before him. He stopped when he heard a hiss and looked down as Figaro rushed into the alley and chased the frogs, scattering them. One ran into an old woman, who was instantly replaced with another frog.

The ex-general laughed and scooped up his new cat. "Let's go see if Cloud is still in traction." The man and cat chuckled as the group of frogs continued to spread and multiply. As he turned to leave, he stopped and picked up the boy's discarded fiddle.

**. o . o .**

Leon headed out of the library, deciding to head home to see if anyone had any information on what the papers had deemed 'The Phantom.' As he passed the desk the librarian spoke up.

"Oh, Leon, could you do me a favor?" Leon turned and found the woman holding up a book.

"Could you return this to Merlin for me? He lent it to me a while ago." He nodded and she handed him the book. "Thanks!"

The SeeD looked down at the familiar book. He cracked it open, and a beam shot out, encompassing Leon. He disappeared a moment later, just a the librarian ran in to warn him about the book's ability.

"Whoops." She picked up the book. "Oh well, he'll be fine."

**. o . o .**

Leon recognized the 100 Acre Wood when he saw it. He also recognized the Piglet that had already attached himself to the man's leg.

"Excuse me, sir, could you please help my friend? He's stuck in the door again."

Leon made a quick search for his flask, which was missing, then followed the pig down the path to Rabbit's house.

**. o . o .**

Three hours later, Leon trudged back to the book's exit. Piglet ran up to him as he went.

"Oh, I forgot, Sora took the exit page with him last time he was here."

Leon stopped. "He what?"

The small pig shrugged, "He said he wanted to keep a piece of us with him." The pig saw Leon's near-suicidal expression and quickly added, "There is a way to get out of here besides the exit…"

"What is it?"

He didn't like how excited the pig was started to get as he explained. "Well, you have to help us sing "The Goodbye Song."

"…"

**. o . o .**

The SeeD brought the ship out of warp in a random spot between worlds. He shut off the communications panel and locked down the controls. He wasn't going anywhere near people for the next few hours. The SeeD carefully avoided the old book that was on the passenger seat. Its residents had sworn to never speak of what had happened, but he didn't want to be reminded for a long time.

Leon picked up his gunblade and when to the cargo bay and began to practice. He felt better nearly instantly; it was quiet here, and no one could bother or interrupt him. The SeeD commander started forgetting all his trouble and work on his lunges when he heard a loud 'pop.'

"Look, Count Mako!" Sephiroth proclaimed. "I've learned the fiddle!"

The ship filled was soon filled with the sounds of 'Fiddle De Chocobo,' nearly drowning out the SeeD's frustrated shouting.

**. o . o .**

Hours later, Leon walked into Traverse Town, the magical book gingerly held under his arm and mood worse than when he left. He was surprised to find the café unmanned, further confused to find the item and accessory shop were deserted and very suspicious to find no passers-by on the streets.

The SeeD put the book behind the counter of the item shop with a hastily written note should the triplet ducks come back, and walked back onto the street, gunblade drawn, ready for trouble.

He walked into the town square to find a mob of frogs hopping around. They all stopped and looked at him. He had just started to backpedal when one jumped at his face…

**End of Chapter # 9**

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If you didn't guess, it was the 'learned the fiddle' thing that started this whole project. Anywho, after this one, there are only four more chapters to this story. Pretty much these last four have been planned to hell and back, so they should be good.

Oh, before I forget, I used direct quotes from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. So don't think I can write anything that…um…weird.

Thanks go as usual to my editor, he reminded me about the fiddle part (I nearly left it out).

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**Revenge of the Fangirl**


	10. Episode 10

Hey all. I bet you all wondered whether or not I was going to keep posting, huh? Well, there are four episodes left in this story (including this one) and I intend to finish them. After that, I can almost guarantee you that there will be a Kingdom Hearts 2 storyline. It will be under another name, so keep a look out later.

Anyway, as I said, this is one of the last four. These last four in particular are rather long and full of the ideas my editor and I came up with in the very beginning, so they ought to be good. Enjoy!

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode # 10: Revenge of the Fangirl .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

On the heartless-occupied world of Hollow Bastion, there stood a warehouse with a dirty secret. When the leader of the heartless was made aware of this place, he ordered it to be untouched, leaving its original defenses intact. The man would look into its contents later, when his other plans were finished.

A lone figure snuck to the door of that very warehouse as twilight fell.

**. o . o .**

Leon gasped painfully, still on the hard rock surface where he had fallen. The wounds up and down his body were excruciating, and the blood loss was finally starting to tax his strength. He hadn't been able to heal himself in far too long, and he couldn't hang on much longer.

Wiping sweat and blood from his brow, the SeeD pulled himself off the ground. He stepped on his recently injured ankle and pain shot through his leg. He grimaced but remained standing.

"I told you…didn't I?"

Leon could barely make out the speaker's words, which sounded raspy and uneven.

"I told you, you couldn't handle me."

The SeeD growled at that and straightened, pointing the tip of his gunblade at his attacker. He gathered his remaining strength, then flung himself at the other warrior.

**. o . o .**

"Oh come on!" Yuffie watched Cloud and Leon clash again. The two men had challenged each other to a no-holds-barred match. What that had meant when they originally came up with the idea was that all junctions, materia, potions and items they had, they could use. However, after the first two hours of fighting, it became clear the two wouldn't stop until one was unconscious.

"What a pair of drama queens…"

**. o . o .**

Cloud was in nearly as bad a shape as Leon. Everything hurt. He discovered parts of his body that he had never felt before were now in serious pain. But he wasn't giving up, not now. His opponent landed another blow to the younger man's torso, and the pain nearly dropped him. He knew what he had to do…

He backed away from the SeeD and planted his feet firmly into the ground. The SOLDIER called upon the dark power he had been granted, and a dark wing sprouted from his back and flared out. He leaped into the air and flew toward his opponent, sword pointing at the man's head.

"Great," Leon thought. "He's doing that thing again…"

**. o . o .**

Leon had been hit by the first pass the SOLDIER made, and the second dropped him to his knees. The third was coming, and the SeeD knew he had to work quickly before the other man struck him down.

He felt a Renzokuken coming and tried to get to his feet, fearing he wouldn't rise in time. As he prepared to attack, lightning flashed across the sky. It took the SeeD a moment to realize what was happening as a huge man mounted on a six-legged horse appeared between him and Cloud.

Cloud stopped in mid-air and gaped at the newcomer who was starting toward him.

Leon leapt to his feet, injuries forgotten. "Odin, NO!" The guardian force would split Cloud in two before he could escape. The guardian didn't seem to notice Leon's cry as he continued toward Cloud. The Norse God lifted his blade, but stopped.

"_Wait…" _The huge man stopped his attack. "_I know you_…" His eyes widened with recognition. "_Cloud!"_

The blonde man's eyes lit up. "Odin!"

Leon let out the breath he was holding as Odin put his blade away. As he relaxed, the SeeD's injuries finally caught up with him, and he blacked out.

**. o . o .**

The crowd who had been watching the match all gasped as Leon passed out at almost the same time as Cloud. Yuffie merely rolled her eyes.

**. o . o .**

Hours later, Leon, Cloud, Odin and Yuffie sat in the Coliseum's "Competitor's Bar." Yuffie poked at her Shirley Temple angrily as the men played quarters. Odin was still on his first turn as Leon and Cloud were each on their third shot.

Leon noticed how unhappy the ninja was as Odin banked a quarter into the glass off of the beer tap. He frowned and spoke up. "I told you not to come… You're under-age…"

The girl glared at him, "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you dummies."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what would I do without you?"

Yuffie glared further at him. "Where would you be without me to watch over you."

Cloud put down the recently emptied shot glass and laughed. "You sound like an old married couple." His speech was slightly slurred. "I remember when you two first met…"

**Flashback**

Cloud held out a hand at Yuffie. "Leon, this is Yuffie. She's a ninja. I figured she could help you out here."

Leon gave the girl a skeptical look. "You're a ninja?"

Yuffie answered with a series of backflips.

Leon looked at Cloud. "Are you sure about this? I'm not going to babysit her if she can't take care of herself…"

"Trust me," Cloud continued. "You won't regret this."

**End Flashback**

Leon was glaring at Cloud, who shrugged.

Yuffie snorted. "If it weren't for me, you two would still be at Fangirl's place."

Both SeeD and SOLDIER shuddered at that.

"I suppose you have us there," Cloud said, ducking as another quarter was banked off the ceiling lights into a shot glass. "I wonder what happened to Fangirl?"

"Plotting some elaborate revenge," Yuffie answered.

"Yeah, probably," Leon added, draining his shot.

"No, she is," Yuffie said.

"You sound pretty sure about that," Cloud said as he got hit with a quarter. "Ow!"

The ninja got up and stretched. "Well, I give her brother ninja lessons every week. He tells me about it."

"Oh." Cloud lined up his shot, which ended up hitting the pitcher of beer. "Wait, what?"

"Ninja lessons," Yuffie said again, "He's surprisingly apt…" She got off her stool. "Well, I'm off." The girl left the bar, telling the bartender that Leon would pay her tab.

Cloud watched her go. "Do you think she was kidding?"

Leon flipped the quarter into the shot glass. "What?"

"About Fangirl?"

"Well, I wouldn't worry. She's not backed by Sephiroth anymore. I can't imagine she's very powerful on her own…"

Cloud thought a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, Jenova cells really make a difference."

"What?" Leon looked confused.

"Jenova cells. They're what give me and Sephiroth our powers."

"And let him control you?"

"Yeah," Cloud grimaced. "That too… But any other cells were probably destroyed when… well, you know."

**. o . o .**

The intruder had managed to get past the warehouse's elaborate hedge maze relatively quickly. She came to a large steel door adorned with several complicated locks. Putting away her hedge clippers, she examined the door until she found what she was looking for. She reached under the welcome mat in front of the door and brought out the key.

Unlocking the door, she continued into a large room, where a huge system of lasers moved continuously across the room. The girl bit her lip. The beams were moving far too quickly. She looked around for anything that would help her, and grinned when she saw it. She reached up and hit the on/off switch near the door. The lasers shut off, making the room safe to cross.

Continuing to the next room, she was met by a guard dog. It sat up and looked at her, then began to bark, pulling on its chain. The pulling became weaker after a few moments and the barks turned into coughs. The old dog lay back down and fell asleep. Walking past the dog quietly, she opened another door and smiled as she finally found what she had come for.

**. o . o .**

"So now what?" Cloud said, kicking a can as they walked back into the coliseum. Odin had left them suddenly in the bar, halting their game. Leon merely shrugged and went to see if there were any fights coming up.

As he did, a black cloud of smoke swirled around the floor. It moved towards Cloud, who was still kicking the can. The SOLDIER jumped when he finally noticed it, and backed away. The smoke swirled and formed into a dark figure. A moment later, Hades stood before him.

"Oh good. Cloud, I need to have a word with you about a job." The deity smiled oily at him.

Leon cleared his throat and looked at Cloud. Cloud gulped, but looked back at the god.

"Yeah, about that…" Hades merely waited for him to continue. "Uh, the other fighters and I have been talking, and we've decided we want to form a union."

Hades frowned, his fire hair rising. "What?"

Cloud continued, "We feel we're being treated unfairly, and it doesn't say anywhere in any of our contracts that we can't start a union for better conditions. "

The Lord of the Underworld looked like he was going to blow. "Who came up with this idea?"

"Well…" Cloud shrugged, "Leon did, actually."

Hades glared at Leon poisonously, who merely glared back. The god looked like he was going to burst into flame, but suddenly composed himself.

"Union, huh? And would you be the union leader?"

The SOLDIER shrugged. "Um, I guess so… Why?"

The god grinned. "Well, I tell you what, sport. I'll make you a deal. If you can beat me in a fair contest, you can have your union."

Leon immediately moved to speak, but Hades snapped his fingers, and the demons Panic and Pain appeared.

"Why don't you two show our friend out. Cloud and I need to talk business."

Before Leon could protest, both demon's tackled him and began dragging him away. Hades put an arm around Cloud's shoulder, turning him away from Leon while he tried to pry the demons off himself.

"Anyway, you like fighting, right? How about a quick match to decide this?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What happens if I lose?"

Hades shrugged. "Oh, that, well, I doubt it'll happen, but if it does, why don't we just add a little time to your contract?"

Cloud thought a moment. "Okay."

"Good. Right this way." They headed for the entrance of the arena.

Leon managed to pull the squirming demons off of him just as they left and grumbled as he saw Cloud walk off. "Dumbass…" He glared down at the two demons, who both shrugged at him.

**. o . o .**

Cloud jumped at Hades, slashing down as the god threw a ball of flame at him. The SOLDIER managed to knock the ball back at the god, hitting him in the head.

Hades was already pissed off at how long the match was taking. When the flame hit his head, he roared. Jets of flame shot out from his arms.

"Uh oh," Cloud thought. "He's doing that thing again…"

After quickly jumping out of the flame's way, Cloud managed to get another hit. Roaring louder, Hades shot another fire ball at Cloud, who deflected it. The ball went into one of the windows above the arena, shattering it. Both fighters froze.

The voice of Zeus, king of the gods, boomed through the opening. "Somebody's gonna pay for that window!"

Hades and Cloud looked at each other, then both fled in opposite directions.

The match was declared a draw.

**. o . o .**

Leon hadn't been able to find Cloud for over an hour after the fight. He had given up after checking every place he had ever seen Cloud hang around, so he waited in the stands.

People slowly started coming in for the next match. Leon sat down in his normal spot as the stands filled. The SeeD was impressed with the size of the crowd. Yuffie had mentioned this event being good, but there were never as many people in the coliseum at this time of day. He then saw Cloud working his way over.

Leon glared at Cloud as he sat down in the stands.

"What?"

"What happened with Hades?"

Cloud started eating the nachos he had just bought from the vendor. "Oh, he said we'd 'talk about it later.'"

Leon glared at him for a moment, but looked up as the match started. Cloud held up the nachos to Leon, who glared at him again.

Unfazed, Cloud looked up. "Who exactly is fighting?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know, but Yuffie mentioned that I'd really like to see this."

The SeeD was mildly surprised to see Sora walk into the arena, without Donald or Goofy.

"…"

"Hey, it's that dorky kid," Cloud said around a mouth full of cheese. "Where are his buddies?"

Leon grew very suspicious. "I don't know…"

The sky grew dark and purple as they continued to watch.

"Look!" Cloud pointed to the sky as the stars swirled and formed a symbol. Leon thought it looked familiar, like one of Ultimecia's attacks…

A beam shot out of the symbol and a figure stood from where the beam landed. Taking hold of his sword, Sephiroth stood to face the Keybearer.

"Oh," Leon sat back down. He hadn't noticed he had stood up. "It's just Sephiroth…"

The Ex-General dove headlong towards the 14-year-old, sword pointing for the heart.

Cloud and Leon looked at each other, then both leapt to their feet, running for the arena. Both men bounced off the magic wall separating the spectators from the arena.

Cloud got back to his feet. "Oh man, he's gonna kill that kid!"

Leon nodded, grimacing. Sora was barely dodging most of Sephiroth's attacks, and getting hit hard by the rest. Thinking a moment, Leon got back to his feet and aimed his hand at the wall. He called a 'dispel' which struck the wall and made it flicker off. Leon ignored the horrified screams as the flames Sephiroth had called came close to torching a whole section of onlookers.

Both SeeD and SOILDER leapt into the arena and ran for the boy, who had been just knocked down by another volley of strikes.

Sephiroth stopped his intended death blow and looked at Leon.

"Count Mako? What is the meaning of this?"

"You can't kill him."

"But why not?" Sephiroth looked confused. "He's a child. They're the easiest to kill."

Leon thought quickly. "Don't say he's the only hope of saving the world. That will only encourage him…"

"He's… one of my agents… of the night."

Sephiroth looked down at the boy, then back at Leon, and lowered his sword. "Eh, good enough for me."

Sora looked at Leon, confused. "I'm your what?"

Leon grimaced. "Never mind… Sephiroth?"

The silver-haired man looked up.

"Why don't you show my 'agent' around the place?"

Sephiroth looked thoughtful, then looked down at Sora. "Want some ice cream? I'll show you how to take it from unsuspecting children."

Sora blinked. "Okay." He followed the white-haired man out of the arena.

"Well, that was weird," Cloud remarked as he started back for his nachos. "I thought that- wha?"

Leon looked to where Cloud was staring. The stands had filled while they had been rescuing Sora. The stands, usually seating a motley bunch of spectators, were now filled by teenaged girls. The SeeD looked at Cloud, who shrugged.

Leon looked out again, and found there was now a circle of girls surrounding him and Cloud. He stepped back as they closed in.

"Let's get out of here," Leon said, turning to Cloud. "We can get through if-"

He was silenced by the pommel of Cloud's sword smacking into his head. Black spots filled his eyes, then everything went dark.

**. o . o .**

Leon opened his eyes slowly. His head was pounding, and his back was uncomfortable and he shifted, trying find a better position. It didn't take him long to realize that he was not in his bed.

Looking down, he found that he was, in fact, strapped to an operating table. Looking around, he found there were several teenaged girls and one boy working at the various stations in the room. One of the girls stepped up to the table, grinning smugly at him.

Leon's eyes narrowed. "Fangirl."

The girl smiled. "How good of you to remember me." She approached the table, grinning.

"Once again you find yourself in the inescapable clutches of Fangirl…and," she gestured to the other black-clad teens, "the Fangirls. Oh…and Fanboy." The one boy waved.

"…Fangirls?"

"Yes." The girl gestured again to the teens about the room. "Devoted followers who share the same ideals as I." The SeeD stared at her and she sighed. "Our ideals of hot guys making out."

Leon started to struggle a little harder, fearing that would be her goal. The teenaged girl walked around the table, continuing her speech.

"Do you like my castle?" Fangirl gestured around the room. "You see, mother wouldn't allow me to do any more 'experiments' in the house, so I rented this place. Isn't it fantastic?"

"Rented?" Leon raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, rented. I had to baby-sit my brother for two weeks to earn this." Leon looked around, confused, at well-decorated and clearly expensive castle they were in. The girl frowned. "What? My parents are loaded."

"And now, I have a gift for you."

One of the girls handed her a injection gun. In the tube, was a white speck floating in purple liquid.

Leon eyed her warily as she approached. "What is that?"

"This is a very potent substance indeed. The first tests were done by a corporation named Shinra…" Leon paled. Cloud had told him a little bit about what kind of things Shinra dabbled in. Fangirl laughed, "Don't fight it. This will give you powers beyond your imagination." The others in the room murmured happily.

"No, thanks." Leon pulled at the metal straps that clamped his body to the table. At that point, he saw Cloud sneak up behind the girl, getting ready to smack her over the head. The other teenagers didn't seem to notice as she continued speaking.

"In fact, you'll find that the powers it has given me are quite impressive." Before Cloud landed the blow, Fangirl snapped her finger, and Cloud stopped, standing up straight.

Leon's eyes widened. Cloud's face went slack, just like when Sephiroth would take control of him…

"Jenova cells." the SeeD hissed.

Fangirl smiled. "Smart boy, you guessed it. Everyone in this complex has been given Jenova cells. I have given myself a 'master' dose." She gently shook the injector, "but enough of talk, you'll soon know all about it," she handed the injector to Cloud who moved to inject Leon in the neck.

Just as the needle was about to puncture skin, a smoke bomb went off, obscuring the room. Leon heard shouting and movement, then a thunk and an 'ow.'" Soon after, the straps holding Leon down were released.

Leon got to his feet blindly, smoke still permeating the room. He heard movement and girls shouting, Fangirl yelling at them to secure the room and make sure Leon hadn't escaped. Then the SeeD felt a hand clamp down on his arm. He was quickly pulled out of the room before he could struggle.

The hand let go of him as his vision cleared of smoke, and Leon found himself in a room with Cloud, Yuffie and a young boy dressed in black.

"…Fangirl's brother?" the SeeD asked Yuffie, looking at the boy.

Yuffie nodded. "This is my protégé, yes," she answered, not bothering with introduction. "We need to get out of here. Fangirl's injected herself with enough Jenova cells to cause mutation. We just need to find the sewer exit." Yuffie and Fangirl's brother began to leave. Cloud started to follow when Yuffie held up a hand.

"We have other things to do before we leave. Secret ninja things. You two will have to find your own way out…" She opened the door .

"Wait, you're just gonna leave us?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, I am," Yuffie said. "Have fun getting out," she said as the two ninjas left. Leon and Cloud looked at each other. Leon sighed, looking back at the door they had come through.

"…Come on. The smoke must be clearing by now," Leon said. Cloud nodded and they exited the room by the door Yuffie had gone through and found a hallway with four doors. The ninja was already gone.

"Now what?" Cloud said, looking uneasily at the creepily appointed house.

"Let's just keep going forward…"

Cloud nodded, and the two men went from room-to-room, finding neither fangirls or any sort of weapon to arm themselves with. It wasn't until they reached a huge, lavishly decorated hall lined with pillars that Cloud stopped. "Do you hear that?"

Leon stopped moving and listened.

"It's Leon. _Leon_." A whispered chanting seemed to come from all directions. "_Leon, Leon, Leon_…"

"_LeonLeonLeonLeonLeonLeon…"_

The hall started to fill with black-hooded fangirls, all of them chanting. Leon made a run for the door, but was quickly intercepted by one of the girls and pushed him back with surprising force. The SeeD and SOLDIER were quickly surrounded. The girls herded them into the center of the room. They continued to close in…

Then stopped. Fangirl had entered the room. The crowd of girls parted for her as she walked toward them. Leon looked at her closely. She looked different. Her skin had changed to a light purple.

"That damn ninja…always meddling in my plans. Oh well, we've got you back, so no harm done…"

Leon looked around at all the bright blue eyes staring at him. He looked at Cloud, who was now turned toward him as well, face blank again. They all swarmed on the SeeD at the same moment. Leon struggled against the multitude of hands grabbing hold of him. Once they immobilized him, one of the girls hit him over the head, and he heard Fangirl's laughter as he blacked out.

**. o . o .**

Fangirl chuckled to herself as she approached Leon with the injector.

"Mistress, I don't understand why we've tied them both," one of the fangirls said, looking at Leon and Cloud, who were bound back-to-back, "Won't they soon share our blood?"

"Yes, they will," Fangirl said as she injected Leon with the Jenova cell, "but, we can use them as bait for the ninja and her accomplice."

"Oh, that's a good idea."

"Of course it's a good idea!… Wait, why am I answering a peon's questions?" Fangirl waved a hand, and the hooded girl shut up.

**. o . o .**

Leon came to some time later, finding himself tied to someone else. He looked over his shoulder, and found Cloud blinking awake.

"Well this is just great," Cloud mumbled. "At least we're in no position to make out with each other."

"Good Point…"

Leon was trying to wiggle his hands free when the door burst open suddenly. A figure shrouded in black leapt into the room. He looked at the two men for a moment, then hurled a pair of shuriken at them. Leon barely had time to kick off the floor, putting the bindings tying them together in the flying star's path.

Both men crashed to the floor, arms free. Leon looked up to find the mysterious figure long gone.

"Well, that was odd," Cloud said as he stood and dusted himself off. "That was Fangirl's brother, wasn't it?"

"Probably," the SeeD replied, not wanting to admit that he had once again been rescued by Yuffie and her apprentice.

Cloud was still looking at him. "Leon…your neck…"

The older man touched his neck, and found a small puncture wound. He remembered the injection gun…

Leon paled considerably, "Come on... We need to get out of here…"

The two left the room they were in and found themselves in another lab. Finding no fangirls in the room, Leon began searching for weapons. Finding little more than medical supplies, he pocketed whatever looked like it would be helpful. Opening the last cabinet, the first thing he noticed was a laser sight for a firearm.

The SeeD blinked, looking around for a weapon to attach it to. He grinned when his eyes settled on just the weapon.

**. o . o .**

In the hallway outside of the lab, two fangirls patrolled. As they walked near the corner, the first girl looked at the second.

"What's that on your robe?" she said, pointing to a red dot on the second's hood.

"What? What is it-ACK!" the girl with dot cried out as Leon slammed her over the head with his laser-mounted baseball bat. The first girl tried to run for the alarm, but Leon lined the site up on her and threw the bat, knocking her out with it as well.

Cloud blinked at Leon, who shrugged. They continued on through the castle slowly, avoiding any fangirls they could, clubbing the ones they couldn't with Leon's scoped bat. Soon they found themselves at a huge set of doors.

"That looks kinda menacing," Cloud remarked. Leon gave him a look, and went in.

It appeared to be a throne room. It was bare of any furnishings, besides the actual throne. On it sat Fangirl.

The girl's body was clearly mutating. She was much taller, her body was misshapen, and she was now completely purple. The girl laughed as the two men entered.

"Good work so far. I was hoping you would lead the ninja to me, but we will find her eventually." At that, she waved her hand, and Cloud's eyes fogged over, again under the spell of the Jenova cells.

Leon, however, felt like his brain was on fire as he fought back the mental attack. He dropped to his knees and held his head, crying out.

"Don't fight it. It'll only hurt more," Fangirl sneered as Cloud went to her side.

The SeeD's vision started to fade as he continued to resist. Just as his control was slipping away, he noticed a pattern of light and shadow in the air forming into a symbol.

"What's all this, then?"

There was a flash of light, and Fangirl turned to find Sephiroth standing behind her.

"Sephiroth!" she exclaimed, losing her concentration for the moment. Leon felt his head clearing.

"You've stolen something from Mother," Sephiroth said angrily. "Give it back."

Fangirl composed herself, and even smiled. "I was actually hoping you would show up. Now I have you, the ultimate weapon." She waved a hand at him. "And this time, I won't lose control of you."

Leon watched in horror. He knew she was reaching out to control Sephiroth…

Sephiroth just stared back. "Okay…" He turned, ignoring her for the moment. "Count Mako! What a pleasant surprise… You look different."

"That's because she injected me with Jenova cells," Leon said, annoyed.

"Oh, is that all?" The white-haired man snapped his fingers. Leon felt something pop in his head, and Fangirl's influence was gone. "There. Good as new."

"No!" Fangirl shouted. "I won't let you ruin it for me again!" She raised her arms and shot out magical lightning.

As Sephiroth fended off the attack, Leon looked around for either an escape or a better weapon. At that moment, a crate dropped in front of him. On it was a note:

'_Dear Leon,_

_Use this on mega-bitch._

_-Yuffie'_

He opened the crate. Inside was a rocket launcher. Leon frowned. Under normal circumstances, this would be severe overkill, but there was no other choice. He picked up the launcher and aimed it at the monster that had been Fangirl.

Sephiroth effortlessly blocked another lightning bolt with his sword. "I've had enough of this. Give back what you took from Mother. Now."

Leon had just gotten Fangirl in his sights when, suddenly, she reverted to her old self. In less than a second, she was once again a normal fourteen-year-old girl.

The Ex-general smirked. "You are an amateur…but thank you for my new army." With that, Sephiroth strode out of the room.

Leon reluctantly lowered the rocket launcher. As he did, however, he was suddenly jumped by Fanboy. The launcher dropped to the floor and fired, sending a rocket straight at Fangirl.

She gasped and jumped out of the way. The rocket soared past her and struck the throne, blowing it up.

"OH CRAP!" Fangirl screamed as throne toppled, revealing machinery. "You idiot! You hit the main reactor!"

"…The main reactor was in the throne?"

"Of course it was!. This place is going to blow in three minutes!" The girl ran from the room, hitting the fire alarm as she went. Cloud was still blinking, the mind control fading from his head. After a moment, he came to, seeing the damaged power source.

"Aw hell, let's get out of here!" Cloud ran for the door, followed by Leon. They ran randomly, completely lost. They followed the sounds of the other fangirls escaping while the building started collapsing. Soon they found themselves in the castle's underground dock. Yuffie was leaning on a jet ski.

"It's about time…"

Leon didn't bother with questions as he jumped on. Soon he, Cloud and Yuffie were jet-skiing across a lake, away from the collapsing castle. Leon stopped the ski for a moment, looking at the building as it fell into itself.

"Looks like I saved your life again."

The SeeD looked at Yuffie, who was grinning broadly.

"So, how about a little alone time when we get back?" She winked.

"…Shut up." He kicked the engine on and sped off from the castle.

"Hey Yuffie, what happened to Fangirl's brother?" Cloud asked as they continued.

Yuffie shrugged. "He didn't come with me when we escaped. Some ninja he turned out to be…"

**. o . o .**

Fangirl crawled out of the manhole she had escaped through, taking her brother's hand as he helped her up.

"Why did you help me out of there?" she asked as she looked back at the flaming castle.

The younger child shrugged. "Mom woulda killed me if I didn't."

"Ah…well, let's go home." She turned to leave, but stopped short as a taxi drove up.

A duck with a top hat climbed out, looking at the castle remains in anger and disbelief.

"What did you do to me castle!" Scrooge McDuck fumed.

"Uh…" Fangirl gulped as the duck shook his cane at her.

"You're going to have to pay for that!"

"Aw man, Mom's gonna kill you," her brother moaned.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth looked at the flaming castle as it collapsed.

"Not a bad job. Right, my army of slaves?" He looked at the legion of Fangirls…and boy.

"Right Sephiroth," they said in unison. "You're the greatest."

Sephiroth laughed as he made them all dance.

**End of Episode # 10**

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Long huh? Once I actually do get rolling, it kinda takes a while to wear off. So anyway, I hope you all liked it. Oh, and if you didn't get something in it, go ask someone who played Resident Evil 4. The next one shouldn't take long, I've already got it written, just need to edit it.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Trial**


	11. Episode 11

Hey all, I'm back, with the episode that was the best planned of them all. I think it's one of my best, personally, I hope you like it too.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode # 11: The Trial .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Yuffie the ninja stepped out of the synth shop, chortling as she left. She had finally gained the upper hand on the meddlesome moogles. The foolhardy moogles would finally learn her financial wrath. She laughed heartily at her various plans as she passed Gheppetos's shop.

In the window of the shop were a few of the toys the old man had for sale. Yuffie walked by them with hardly a glance, but quickly backtracked at what she had seen.

"Sea Monkeys!" She pressed her face to the glass, looking at the picture on the front of the box. "They looks so cool!"

The ninja backed off the glass and looked at the price and realized she had just spent the last of her money on some stupid thing she didn't care about anymore. She looked glumly at the family of royal Sea Monkeys, smiling at her from the box. "Oh, I'd sell my sou- no…I'd sell Leon's soul for those…"

Behind the ninja came a crack of lightning. The area filled with black smoke. When it cleared, Hades, lord of the underworld, stood there. "Sell your soul, huh?"

"No," Yuffie crossed her arms, "Leon's soul."

The god grinned. "Leon? Oh that'd be just fine…"

"Okay!… Wait, can you really do that?" Yuffie frowned.

"Yeah, why not. So do you want the sea monkeys or what?"

The ninja considered for a moment, looking at the picture of the smiling aquatic family. "Yeah!"

Hades grinned, producing a contract in a puff of smoke and handing it to the ninja. The girl didn't hesitate to sign the document and hand it back.

"It is done." The god stood back and held his hands out, conjuring smoke from the fingertips. He raised one hand slowly, power crackling through it, then smashed it into the store window, pulling the box of sea monkeys out.

"There you go, Princess. Enjoy."

**. o . o .**

Leon sat in his room at his desk, pouring over his books and maps. He had been getting closer to finding the Heartless who had been kidnapping the princesses.

He opened another newspaper he had borrowed from the castle periodicals. The Queen had allowed him full access to the castle library for his investigation. The paper he was holding had a small article about sightings of a mysterious figure dubbed 'The Phantom.' Pinned to the wall in front of him were several similar articles, all from different worlds.

The SeeD frowned. If all these people had heard of this 'Phantom', why was he the first to look for it? Perhaps that wasn't the case. He would have to look further into that later. He clipped out the article and pinned it to the wall with the others.

As he moved on to the next paper, he heard his door open. Turning, he saw Aerith bringing in a tray with a glass and pitcher on it.

"Want some lemonade?" she said, smiling. Leon hated lemonade.

"…Sure."

Aerith looked at the walls. "Any closer?"

The scarred man took the offered glass. "A little, I need to talk to some of these 'officials' who have been looking into the Phantom. Someone has to be doing an investigation that brought leads…"

Aerith frowned. "Well…most of these worlds have fallen…"

Leon didn't say anything to that. Aerith cleared a spot on his desk and put the tray on it. "Well, make sure you take a break soon. You look tired…"

The SeeD nodded. Aerith started to leave, when a thunderclap in the room stopped her. In the center of the room, a black spot on the floor spewed smoke, and a demon in a business suit appeared.

The demon looked at the two in the room, then focused on Leon.

"Are you Squall Leonhart?"

Leon frowned. "My name is Leon…"

The demon sighed, "Is your legal, birth name 'Squall Leonhart?'" Leon glared, but nodded. The demon straightened. "You are required to come with me to the underworld for your sentence."

"Sentence? What are you talking about?" Aerith said.

The demon sighed again, then pulled out a piece of paper from his suitcase. "According to this contract, your soul is now the property of Hades, lord of the underworld, for all eternity."

"Let me see that…" Leon took the paper from the lawyer demon. After a failed attempt at reading it, the demon sighed and handed him an easier to read version.

The SeeD read through it. "What? How could someone have sold my soul without my permission?"

The Demon sighed loudly this time. "I'm afraid it's in writing. You'll have to come with me."

"You can't hold him to a contract that he had nothing to do with," Aerith said, crossing her arms.

"If you wish to take legal action, be my guest." The demon smiled.

"We will," Aerith said.

"Well then, feel free to send a summons to us at any time. Meanwhile…" Behind him, two large, muscle-bound demons appeared. "I'm afraid until this is sorted out, the young man will have to come with us."

Leon jumped to his feet, reaching for his gunblade. The first demon goon jumped at him, knocking him down before he reached his weapon. The second goon ran over and joined the scuffle. Meanwhile, the lawyer smiled smugly at Aerith and held out the papers in his hands.

"Take these two versions of the contract. They're his copies… I take it you'll want them?" the flower girl frowned and took the papers. At that point, Leon was trapped in a headlock by the first goon. They led him to the spot where the smoke was coming out of the floor.

"Aerith," Leon choked out, "Call McDuck! Get me a lawyer!"

The flower girl nodded as the three demons disappeared in an explosion of smoke, Leon in tow. She frowned, looking down at the copy of the original contract. That signature looked familiar…

"….Oh she didn't!"

**. o . o .**

Yuffie looked glumly at her 'Sea Monkey' aquarium. She used the magnifier again, and found that the inhabitants of the aquarium still looked like flecks of dirt.

"What a rip off!" She turned her back on the aquarium, disgusted.

The ninja nearly jumped out of her chair as the door slammed open. Aerith and Cid charged into the room, both looking rather upset.

"Yuffie, how could you!" Aerith held up the paper.

"How could I what?" The ninja questioned innocently.

Aerith pointed to the signature on the bottom of the paper. "How could you sell Leon's soul!"

"Aerith, let me show you something." Yuffie grabbed the box the Sea Monkeys came in. "Look," she said, pointing at the box art, "It's a little undersea kingdom! How am I supposed to say no to that?"

"Yuffie!"

**. o . o .**

Leon looked around his cell glumly. He had often thought about what death would be like. He certainly hoped it wouldn't be like this. He couldn't see anything other than what was in his cell, and the occasional screams from down the hall were really starting to bother him.

The SeeD looked up as Hades walked up to his cell. "Like your place, kid?"

Leon glared through bars threateningly. "You can't keep me here. I didn't have anything to do with that contract."

Hades waved a hand at him dismissively. "Details details. Until someone sues us, you're staying put."

"They're getting me a lawyer right now…"

**. o . o .**

Scrooge McDuck looked at the group of humans sitting across from him at his desk. He was scratching his chin, thinking of the most gentle way of putting things.

"No."

Aerith looked horrified, "But you're his employer!"

Scrooge shrugged. "He's only part-time. McDuck Industries only gives benefits to full-time employees. I'm afraid Leon doesn't qualify for the full coverage."

Cid glared. "You're just going to let him rot in the underworld?"

The duck shrugged again. "This situation he's in doesn't sound like it will hold up very long in court. Even an inept lawyer could get him out. However, I don't see why I have to pay for said inept lawyer." He looked at Yuffie. "It sounds like the ninja should pay."

Both Aerith and Cid looked at the spot Yuffie had been sitting until a half-second ago.

"Damn! Where did she go!" Cid looked around, then checked his pockets suspiciously. "AND WHERE'S MY MATERIA?!"

**. o . o .**

Leon knew it was taking too long for them to have gotten him a lawyer.

"McDuck isn't going for it…"

"Talking to yourself already?" Hades had dropped by again, with his lawyer demon in tow. "Usually that doesn't happen until after the torture stares." Leon glared at them, approaching the bars of his cell menacingly.

Hades grinned, "Take it easy there, tiger. I haven't heard from above ground in a while, I'm taking it that your buddies didn't shell out for a lawyer?" The SeeD's glare answered for him.

"That's too bad, what with the implications of your confinement here and all." The god grinned. "Rest up, 'cause we're going to start up the torture and degrading soon," the god left, leaving Leon to contemplate that particular threat.

**. o . o .**

"Your evilness, you do realize of course that the contract is completely useless, right?" The demon lawyer queried as Hades took his throne by his chess board.

"Yeah, yeah, of course…" Hades looked at his chess board. "However, we can get rid of the kid before his friends manage to find a lawyer and send a summons." The god knocked the piece on the board shaped like Leon off.

Panic blinked. "I thought he was already dead." He blanched when he saw the look Hades gave him. "But I mean…he's here…"

Hades sighed heavily. "He's not dead, numbskull, he's just trapped down here. Now if he just happens to get lost in the system and disappear before his friends can take legal action…"

"Why don't we just kill him?" Panic said, skittering over to the chess piece on the floor.

Hades glared. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a live torture subject down here? The dead ones just stop feeling it after a while. Besides, I've been looking for someone to put in the 'Tilt-a-Whirl'…"

**. o . o .**

Hours later, Leon found himself suspended from the ceiling by wrist shackles. He was still dazed from the 'Tilt-a-Whirl,' and hardly noticed that there were demons walling him into a tiny space in the cell.

"What are you doing?" Leon growled at Hades as he was inspecting the progress of his demon masons.

"Oh, we're hiding you in the wall. Don't worry, we'll let you out periodically to test any various forms of torture I can think of."

"You can't do this, it isn't leg-mmmph!" Leon glared poisonously at the lord of the underworld as he finished shoving the sock in the SeeD's mouth.

"Geez kid, when are you gonna learn when to shut it up?"

Leon watched helplessly as the bricks continued to be laid. It wasn't long before Leon saw Hades wave at him as the final brick was shoved in place. The small 'room' he was now in was completely dark. The SeeD thought for a few minutes, trying to figure a way out of the situation.

He mentally cataloged his assets, and started with realization when he noticed that he could still access his junctions and guardian forces. He called one, wondering why he hadn't thought of this sooner.

Diablos the demon slide out of a spherical void. He looked at his master, blinking. Leon glared at him until he removed the sock.

"What can I do for you?" the demon asked.

"You wouldn't happen to have a law degree, would you?" Leon asked in return.

"Most demons do."

"Great."

**. o . o .**

Hades looked down at the document he had just been handed.

"I am to appear in Wonderland Court Trial part 32?" The god of death glared at Diablos. "Why Wonderland?"

"It's the only living court system that covers this type of trial," the demon answered.

"Who's representing him?"

"I am," said Diablos.

"What?" Hades' hair fire turned red.

Diablos looked unimpressed. "I am his guardian. He needs my help, and I will provide it."

Hades smoothed back his fire hair. "Hey, that's no problem, gotta do whatcha gotta do." The dark god grinned evilly. "See you in court."

**. o . o .**

Leon looked around the courtroom he was currently seated in. It looked…normal. Far too normal to be a Wonderland courtroom. Everything was made of wood, and wasn't alive. He knew better than hoping for the best, so he brooded while the seats were beginning to fill.

Diablos appeared in the seat next to the SeeD with a stack of papers. He looked at his summoner. "You have nothing to fear. Most demons have an understanding of the law, I am no exception. This case will be over within the hour."

Leon nodded as the four-of-clubs bailiff stepped into the front of the room. "All rise for the honorable Judge…the Queen of Hearts!" The room all got to their feet, some people cheering. The woman entered and sat at her spot.

"Be seated." As everyone sat down again, Leon's suspicions were growing worse.

"Why is everyone acting normal?"

Diablos shrugged. "I'm sure Wonderland hasn't had a trial of this nature in a while. They may be-"

"BE SILENT!" the Queen bellowed.

After all the initial formalities were dispensed, Diablos stood, holding the contract. "Your honor, we are suing the Lord of the Underworld for Squall Leonhart's soul. We are doing so because Hades is not entitled to-"

"Objection!" Hades said calmly. The queen looked at him as he stood.

"On what grounds?"

The god grinned evilly. "The plaintiff's lawyer is under my employ. I believe that is a conflict of interest."

The Queen rubbed her chin. "Is this true?"

"Yes, your honor, but I-" Diablos was cut off by the Queen of Hearts as she pounded her gavel.

"I'm afraid you are unable to represent the plaintiff if he is suing your employer. Step down, please."

Leon's mouth hung open. He looked at Diablos, who shrugged. "I'm sorry. If that is her decree, I can't do anything about it." With that, the demon disappeared.

The Queen turned to Leon. "Now, young man, do you have someone else to represent you?"

Leon tried to think of something, anything. Before he could answer, someone stood behind him. He turned around in his seat, and blanched.

"Sephiroth for the defense!" The Ex-General stepped to the table Leon was seated at.

"Don't you mean for the plaintiff?" the Queen of Hearts said.

"Uh…yes, that." Sephiroth sat next to Leon, who looked like he was going to be sick.

Hades stood again. "Your honor, I must object again. That man is not a lawyer!"

Sephiroth shrugged. "Neither are you."

Hades glared. "I'm a god!"

Sephiroth seemed unaffected. "I'm kind of a god."

The people in the room murmured at this change of events. The queen pounded her gavel again.

"BE SILENT!" Everyone shut up. "Now, both of you are lawyer enough for this court."

Leon sat up. "No! This man does not represent me!"

The queen smiled. "Too late, he called it. And that is a binding law in Wonderland."

Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose. He felt a migraine coming on. Sephiroth looked rather pleased and slapped Leon on the back. "It is no trouble, old chum."

The Queen of Hearts cleared her throat. "Jury selection will begin tomorrow. The trial will begin immediately afterward."

**. o . o .**

The next day, after a long and grueling jury selection, Leon looked at the people who were more than likely going to condemn him to hell. In the jury box stood an even mix of former Garden Faculty members and former Galbadian soldiers. Leon hoped they didn't remember that one time he had thwarted all their plans almost single-handedly. No sooner did he think as much, than the first juror threw a tomato at him.

Sephiroth cleaved it in half with his sword before it reached the SeeD. The pieces landed in a bowl of salad that the Mad Hatter had held out.

"Thank you," the crazed man said, tipping his hat. Sephiroth bowed to him as Leon groaned.

Everyone looked up as the queen cleared her throat. "The court is adjourned until 10:00 AM tomorrow," she announced, pounding her gavel.

**. o . o .**

Aerith ran into the castle, panting. No one questioned her as she ran for the library. She WOULD free Leon, even if she had to take the bar and represent him herself…

**. o . o .**

_This is Court TV_

A woman wearing a white shawl sitting on a huge clam shell looked up from the pearl she was looking into.

"_Welcome to the court of Wonderland, this is the night…of the trial of the century. I am Fabula, your court reporter. We now return to the defense's first witness…"_

**. o . o .**

Leon looked remarkably more glum today as he sat down at his table. Hades had tested 'The Rotor' on him when they came back from the courtroom the day before. Sephiroth, however, looked rather pleased. He continued thumbing through an old copy of "Ancient Greek Mythology," while the first witness was brought in. The Ex-General looked up to see who it was, and started laughing manically.

"BE SILENT!" the Queen screamed at him. "Now, dear, continue…"

Cloud Strife looked like he was going to be sick when they were done swearing him in. Hades approached him, tapping his chin with his forefinger.

"Mr. Strife, would you please describe your deal with me to the court?"

Cloud looked guiltily at Leon. "…I signed my soul over to you in return for your help…"

"And what help was that?"

"I needed help finding-"

Sephiroth stood suddenly. "Objection! This is irrelevant."

Hades glared at him, but smoothed his hair back. "Fine. Please tell the court how this agreement came to be, so," he glared at Sephiroth again, "we can hear how I acquire souls legally."

Sephiroth grinned.

"Well, I was wandering around the Coliseum when-," The blonde man's face went slack. Leon looked at Sephiroth, who was grinning. "When Hades came and touched me in a bad place."

The courtroom was filled with gasps.

"WHAT!" Hades jumped. "What are you talking about!"

"He made me put on a sailor suit and took pictures, threatening to show everyone if I didn't work for him."

The god looked like he was going to explode when he noticed Sephiroth move his hand when Cloud spoke.

"…No further questions…your honor." Hades stalked back to his seat. As Sephiroth stood, merrily approaching to cross-examine.

"Meat puppet, who is the greatest flamenco dancer in all of history?"

Cloud's face was still blank. "You are."

The ex-general grinned, "And what is the pin number to your charge card?"

"4951."

Sephiroth jotted that down. Leon noted that everyone else in the room did as well. He simply committed the number to memory.

Sephiroth hooked his thumbs into his suspenders. "And Meat puppet, is Hades credible?"

Cloud's face twitched. "Yes he is, but you are unfit to practice law."

"What!" Sephiroth spun to face Hades, who was moving his fingers as Cloud spoke.

"And you are unable to please a woman."

Sephiroth held his hand towards Cloud. The blonde man twitched. "Hades can't go to Olympus because his brother thinks he's a dweeb."

Hades fumed and held out his fist. Cloud twitched again. "Sephiroth is a mama's boy!"

Sephiroth clenched his teeth and squeezed his hand into a fist in concentration. Hades did the same. Cloud twitched a few times, then fell out of his chair, landing with a 'thump.'

"Order! ORDER!" The Queen of hearts looked down at the SOLDIER, who was twitching considerably.

"…ten minute recess…"

**. o . o . **

Ten minutes later, Cloud looked even more miserable than when he first showed up. The Queen pounded her gavel.

"Now, Hades, you wanted to speak to the witness again?" She glared at both the god and ex-general. "AND NO MIND GAMES!"

Hades stood. "Of course, your honor." He looked at Cloud. "Now, did I acquire your soul legally?"

Cloud frowned. "Well…yeah, but-"

"No further questions!" Hades sat, and Sephiroth stood.

"Meat puppet, do you think you are a credible source of information?"

"Yeah."

"Your honor, I would like to present exhibit A as evidence…" He held up a photo, handing it to the Queen. She looked at it, and laughed. "Please show the members of the jury and defense," she said, handing it to Cloud.

The man looked like he was going to vomit when he looked at the photo. "NO! You… how …..why?!"

Sephiroth grabbed the picture out of his hand and passed it to Hades, who looked at it, failed to hide a laugh and passed it to the jury, who all looked at it. The entire group began laughing. Leon was handed the photo and looked at it:

Cloud was in a silk dress, diamond tiara, blonde wig and makeup. There were two girls in the picture, but they were out of focus.

Leon raised an eyebrow and looked at Cloud, who shot him a look that rivaled one of Leon's worst. Meanwhile, Hades had stood, grinning.

"Your honor," Hades crossed his arms, "I'd like to dismiss this case…"

The Queen was still wiping tears from her eyes as Cloud sulked back to his seat in the audience. "On what grounds?"

"The Plaintiff is a witch."

Leon was about to speak up, when someone in the audience stood. "He' a witch! Burn him!" The rest of the group started shouting along with the first.

"BE SILENT!" The queen glared at everyone one in the room, who all sat down. "Because of the seriousness of this accusation, it must be tested. The court will take a ten-minute recess to determine whether or not the plaintiff is truly a witch."

"What!" Leon got out of his seat as the crowd started reaching for him. He looked to Sephiroth for help, but the man was still reading the old book of mythology, apparently unaffected by Leon's plight.

At that point, the closest people to the SeeD had grabbed him, pulling him outside.

**. o . o .**

The courtroom bell was just finishing ringing when they mob brought Leon back in. He was completely soaked, and the group had an inner tube stuffed over his arms.

"Well, is he a witch?" the queen asked as the SeeD was pushed back down in his seat.

"He is, your honor! He floated when we threw him in the river!" one of the people shouted.

"Well, I'm afraid that-"

"Objection!"

The queen looked down at Sephiroth, who hadn't looked up from the book he was reading.

"On what grounds?"

"It is the Plaintiff's Unbirthday."

"Oh, well in that case, continue with the trail."

"What!" Hades was on his feet, pointing at Leon. "Clearly the man is dangerous. You heard the unruly mob."

"It is his Unbirthday," the Queen explained, sounding surprised that the god would question it. "Everyone gets one pardon on their Unbirthday."

The god sat back down, clearly angry. Leon slowly looked over to Sephiroth, who smiled and popped the inner tube with the tip of Masemune. Leon grumbled and pulled the remaining pieces off his arms as his 'lawyer' stood.

"I would like to call Demeter, goddess of grain and harvest," Sephiroth announced. The was a gasp in the crowd, and Hades jumped.

"Wh-what!" the god sputtered as the goddess approached the bench, glaring at Hades the whole time.

Sephiroth strolled over to the witness box and addressed the goddess. "Now, Demeter, was your daughter kidnapped from you by anyone in this room?"

The Goddess glared at Hades. "Yes."

"And did you make any desperate attempts to get your daughter back?"

"Yes."

"And when you finally DID get her back, did you find that her kidnapper had used a trick to force her to remain in his domain for half of the year?"

"Yes."

"Is your daughter's kidnapper in this room?"

"Yes."

Hades shrunk down in his seat.

"Demeter, please point out your daughter's kidnapper to the court."

The goddess pointed at Hades, glaring. The jury and audience gasped and started murmuring.

Sephiroth spread his arms. "You don't think someone who would do something that shady would be very credible, do you?"

"No. I don't."

"Thank you, Demeter." Sephiroth sat back down, smiling.

The Queen looked at Hades. "Would you like to cross-examine the witness?"

The god started to rise, but sat back down at the glare his mother-in-law was making. "No, your honor."

"The witness is dismissed."

Sephiroth stood again. "I would like to call Hercules to the stand."

After Hercules was sworn in, Sephiroth walked over to him. "Has the defendant every done anything…unsavory against you in the past?"

Hercules nodded and started ticking of on his fingers, "He tried to kill me as a baby, he maneuvered me into losing my strength and sent a Titan against me, he tried kill me a few times when he waged war on Olympus-" There was murmuring from the room at that. "He hired that guy to kill me," he pointed at Cloud, who shrugged, "and he ruined my birthday party last year." A few people in the audience gasped at the last part.

"Do you believe the defendant is honest?"

"No."

"Thank you. "Sephiroth sat down and Hades stood. The god stuck his thumbs in his robe and walked to the stand.

"When I 'maneuvered' you into losing your strength, did I do so illegally?"

The demi-god looked uncomfortable. "No…"

"Did I do so without your permission?"

"..No."

"In fact, you gave up your strength willingly as part of the deal, didn't you?"

"Yes but… it was all legal trickery!"

"'LEGAL' trickery," Hades repeated, smiling. "Thank you, no further questions."

Hercules left the stand and sat down in the audience on Leon's side. He gave the SeeD a thumbs-up, and Leon groaned.

Sephiroth stood again. "I call Zeus to the stand."

An entire deck's worth of card had to push a statue of the god near the stand. Lightning flashed, and the statue came to life.

"Zeus," the ex-general put a finger to his chin, "Would it surprise you that Hades would steal someone's soul?"

"Not really," the statue/god said.

"Has Hades done anything that would make you feel this way?"

"Well," the statue stroked its stone beard, "He did wage ware on heaven out of spite."

There were a few horrified gasps from the room and someone screamed, "DEMON!"

"Thank you." The silver-haired man sat back down.

Leon was rather impressed at the way Sephiroth had been handling the case. He had actually been helping his case the entire time. He looked over at Hades, and frowned at how happy the god looked as he stood.

"Zeus, dear brother…tell me, are you Hercules' father?"

Zeus looked distinctly unhappy at that questions, "Yes…why?"

"Who is Hercules' mother?" Hades asked casually.

The thunder god's mouth dropped. "I uh, you see-"

Hades grinned, "I will remind you that you are under oath."

Zeus shifted uncomfortably in his statue. "…..Hercules' mother was a pig farmer from Crete…"

The room erupted in shocked chatter. Hercules fainted. Lightning struck the center of the room, and Hera, queen of the gods, appeared.

"WHAT!?" She glared murderously at Zeus.

Zeus looked like he was going to be sick. "Honey, I …you know I love you, baby…you're my number one."

"I NEVER WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!"

Leon blinked. "How could she possibly not have known?" he wondered aloud. No one seemed to notice his question.

Hades continued his questioning. "And Zeus…have you ever had any other affairs?"

The courtroom held its breath. Hera was glowing with energy as she glared at her husband.

"Um…maybe a few."

The room exploded from Hera's rage.

**. o . o .**

"A-ha!" Aerith stood up from the book she had been pouring over. "This is it!" She quickly walked out, leaving the section of the castle's library she had been in a mess. The librarian walked over and started muttering curses.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth picked his way through the rubble, looking for his client. He found the younger man under a chunk of Zeus' statue, unconscious. The ex-general easily lifted the chunk off, and cast 'Cure 2' on him.

Leon coughed, sitting up.

"Ah, there you go. We need to get you ready to take the stand."

Leon looked around the room. There was very little of it left. The Queen was starting to sit up from the remains of her seat as others crawled out of the room.

"I don't think I'll be able to…"

Hades approached Sephiroth before he could reply to the SeeD. "Can I have a word with you?"

While the two 'lawyers' went off to speak, Leon looked at the wreckage. He hopped over a large chunk of plaster from the wall, searching the rubble for Cloud. He found him under most of the wall.

The SeeD tried to lift the debris, but found that it was as heavy…as a wall.

"I'll help." Hercules had walked behind the SeeD, Leon moved aside and allowed the demi-god to pass.

Hercules moved the wall hunk, and Leon cast 'Curaga' on Cloud.

The blonde man blinked wearily and sat up. "…Ow."

Hercules helped him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Cloud noticed who he was talking to. " Say…um…are you, you know…okay?"

Hercules twitched, "Oh yes…I'm fine."

Leon and Cloud looked at each other "Well," Leon said quickly, "we should save the rest of the people trapped in the rubble…"

"Yeah…let's-" the demi-god was cut off by Sephiroth, who walked back their way with Hades.

"We have decided to settle this case out of court," the Ex-General said.

Leon frowned, "How?"

Hades grinned at him. "Sephiroth is going to contend against me for your soul."

Leon didn't look happy at that. "What kind of contest?"

Hades gestured to Sephiroth. "That depends on what contest the general finds suitable." He waved his hand, and a poof of smoke appeared on the only cleared area of the floor. The smoke dissipated, revealing three items, Masamune, a pistol… and a fiddle.

Leon moved to speak, but he was again tackled by Pain and Panic.

Sephiroth moved to grab Masemune… but his hand strayed towards the fiddle. He stood back up, looking at both choices, rubbing his chin. After a few moments, he nodded and picked up the fiddle.

Hades nodded. "Excellent choice."

"All right, let's go outside and finish this…"

Everyone left the courtroom, including the people who had been under the rubble, who seemed to be completely unharmed. Leon managed to get the small demons off him and glared at them. They shrugged again. The SeeD quickly ran outside to find Sephiroth and Hades surrounded by a circle of cheering people.

As he managed to shove his way to the front of the crowd, Hades pulled a fiddle out of a puff of black smoke. He held up his fiddle, and said "I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player too, and if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you."

The general looked unimpressed. "My name's Sephiroth and it might be a sin, but I'll take your bet, your gonna regret, 'cos I'm the best that's ever been."

The people in the crowd all murmured. Leon blanched as some of them began to sing:

"_**Sephiroth you rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard.**_

_**'Cos hells broke loose in Wonderland and the devil deals it hard.**_

_**And if you win you free the soul that has been sold.**_

_**But if you lose, the devil gets your soul. "**_

Hades grinned at his accompaniment, "I'll start this show."

And fire flew from his fingertips as he rosined up his bow. And he pulled the bow across his strings and it made an evil hiss.

Then a band of demons joined in and it sounded something like this.

Leon gaped as Hades hands moved too fast to be seen. When Hades finished, Sephiroth said:

"Well you're pretty good ol' son. But sit down in that chair, right there, and let me show you how its done."

The silver-haired man raised the fiddle to his chin, then glanced to his side. "Meat puppet, accompaniment!"

Cloud's face went slack again and he began to sing while Sephiroth played:

_**Fire on the mountain, run boys, run.**_

_**The devil's in the house of the risin' sun.**_

_**Chicken in the bread pin, pickin' out dough.**_

_**"Granny, will your dog bite?"**_

_**"No, child, no."**_

Hades put his head down after Sephiroth's impressive show. He knew he had been beat.

The silver-haired man grinned, saying, "Devil just come on back if you ever want to try again. "I told done you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best that's ever been."

Hades glared at both Sephiroth and Leon, pulling the contract from his robe. He handed it to Sephiroth, who ripped it up. The god disappeared in a billowing cloud of smoke.

"Well…" Leon cleared his throat, "…Thanks."

Sephiroth tucked the fiddle under his arm and smiled. "Think nothing of it, I was just doing my job."

Leon didn't bother to question that as Aerith came running up, "Leon! I've got the perfect way to clear you!"

Leon made a face. "You're a little late..."

The flower girl smiled. "Oh, never mind then…" her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar head of spiky hair walking out of the room. "…Cloud?"

The blonde man paused and turned his head slightly toward her. He didn't speak, but hung his head, and walked off.

Leon looked at Cloud's retreating back and then at Aerith. "What was that about?"

Aerith pursed her lips and remained silent.

Leon knew that face. "Never mind, tell me later."

The flower girl nodded.

**. o . o .**

Sephiroth strolled casually out of the court house with his fiddle over his shoulder. He stopped as he found Hades waiting for him.

"Hey there, champ. I figured since you beat me fair and square that I give you a little…you know, congratulatory gift…" Hades grinned wickedly.

Sephiroth shrugged. "Sure."

The Lord of the Underworld grinned, pulling a small object out of his robe and handing it to the white-haired man. "I trust you'll put it to good use," he said before fading away into smoke.

His fiddle dropped to the ground as Sephiroth examined the black sphere, turning it over in his hand. A look of pure evil came over his face as he strode purposefully away, stepping over the discarded fiddle.

**End of Episode # 11**

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I hope you liked it, I think it may have been my favorite so far. The next Episode is a two-parter, and the very last episode in this series. I've already beaten Kingdom Hearts 2 and I am thinking about doing a series for it, maybe.

Thanks as always to my editor, (who proposed to me last month, by the way)

Soon I'll be Mrs. Editor!

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Battle of Hallow Bastion (part one!)**


	12. Episode 12

Hello all. You know, I really liked that last chapter; it's pretty much the one I put the most work into. How many reviews did I get? Zip. Well, you should all be happy that Yuffie Leonhart 26 decided to drop me a line to get my rear in gear. Anyway, I forgive you all already and here's the next chapter:

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie

Episode 12: The Battle of Hallow Bastion .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon stepped onto the ledge of the huge clock tower, the sun's last lights fading from view as he did. Tinkerbell flew off as she had been instructed to, looking back at the man worriedly as she flew back to the pirate ship. Wind whipped at him as he strode to the other side of the tower, spotting his target.

The Phantom floated before him, silently, waiting. Neither Heartless nor SeeD spoke a word, and neither seemed surprised to see the other.

Leon cast float on himself and stepped off of his perch. He glided towards the black apparition, but the Phantom moved away towards the clock tower, stopping at the face. Its hands started working, and Leon recognized a spell being cast. The SeeD saw the hands on the clock start spinning and caught a flash over his head. He had been 'doomed' a few times in his career and understood the significance of the numbers counting down over his head.

The SeeD peeled over to the clock face and cast 'stop' on it. He glanced over his head and saw that the count had stopped as well. The Phantom noticed as well and hissed, rushing at the SeeD and barreling into him. Leon took the momentum and allowed himself to go horizontal. His feet touched the tower and he kicked off flying at the phantom and swung at its head. His blade passed harmlessly through the Heartless, which seemed to snicker at him.

Leon backed off, casting another 'Float' on himself, and 'stop' on the tower. He watched the Phantom fly around for a moment, trying to understand the nature of the monster. It suddenly changed its vector and charged for the SeeD, who held up his blade to deflect. Again, the blade proved useless and the man was slammed into the clock tower.

As the heartless backed off, the wind caught its cloak, which parted on the bottom, revealing a swirling mass of energy. Leon looked at it as it changed from red to blue and smirked as he guessed the monster's nature. He kicked off the tower again and threw his hand out, casting 'Blizzaga' at the creature.

The phantom wailed as the spell connected with the energy under its cloak. The cloth flew apart, and Leon saw it change from blue to yellow. He grinned further, floating towards the monster as it tried to flee. He launched a 'thundaga' at the heartless, which wailed again.

The energy ball turned white, and the heartless seemed to become more corporal. Leon cast another 'float' on himself and charged at the Phantom. He swung hard, connecting with the apparition, the effects of the Holy materia he had fitted into his gunblade adding power to the strike. The Phantom screeched at him, swiping its claws at his face. The SeeD caught one of the swipes and flew back, wiping the blood from his cheek. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned, seeing the clock tower had started moving again.

Leon sped towards the tower, launching another 'stop' at it. The clock's hands slowed again and Leon turned back to face the Phantom, only to find it had vanished.

Hearing a noise above him, Leon looked up and saw the heartless grab its head, wailing. The SeeD didn't think he had won so easily, and after casting another 'float' on himself, he wearily moved towards the monster, gunblade out.

The Phantom's shrieking stopped and a pink line of flame emit from the Phantom's hands, coming straight at him. The SeeD tried to cast 'shell' but the flames reached him before he got the chance, forming a circle around him. The flames grew brighter, and Leon was enveloped in a ring of pain. The SeeD felt his energy drain as the flames grew higher and had to fight for consciousness.

The spell ended. Leon had to concentrate to cast another 'float' on himself. He sped over to the clock tower to renew the 'stop' on it and had just managed to fish a high potion out of his pocket when the heartless slammed into his back, sending him flying.

Leon recovered quickly and drank down the potion while checking his spells. To his dismay, he only had two 'floats' left. He cast one and flew at the Phantom, casting 'fire' on it as the ball turned red. The ball turned clear again and the SeeD flew at it quickly, gunblade flashing. The heartless wailed and slashed its clawed hands at the man, catching him on the shoulder and digging in.

The SeeD cried out, kicking off the monster and dislodging its claws. He clutched at the wound as blood seeped into his jacket. Pain shot through his arm, and his weakened fingers let go of Lionheart. Leon dove down frantically to retrieve the blade and managed to catch it. He tucked it under his arm and quickly drank another high potion.

As his strength returned, he flew back toward the monster and quickly cast a 'blizzaga,' seeing its energy turn blue. The monster screeched again and dove at the man, claws raking him across the chest. The SeeD leveled a 'fire' at the now-red energy ball, driving the heartless away. He took this moment to cast his last 'float'.

The SeeD started toward the tower to seek out the monster again, but he realized with a start that he hadn't checked the clock. The hands were moving again, and the SeeD flew frantically to the clock face, preparing to fire another 'stop' at it.

Just as he reached casting distance, the Phantom slammed into him from behind. The heartless drove him into the clock face, pinning him to the glass. Leon tried to cast the spell, but the shadowy claws raked his back, breaking his concentration. He watched helplessly as the minute hand raced to meet the hour hand at twelve. Just as the hand started the last few ticks, the SeeD drove his foot in between the minute and hour hands, keeping them apart. The numbers above his head hesitated at '01' and the Phantom screeched in disbelief and dug its claws into the SeeD's side.

Leon held his place and grit his teeth as claws dug into his skin, he looked down and saw the Phantom's energy ball turn yellow. Lightning flashed towards the ball, sending the Phantom screaming away from the SeeD, who quickly cast 'stop' on the clock and kicked off the clock's face.

However, the SeeD quickly found that his last 'float' had worn off, and he started to fall. He was too far from the tower to try to catch a hold on it and couldn't possibly call a summon fast enough to aid him. He resigned himself to his fall as he noticed something glowing in one of his jacket pockets.

He quickly grabbed at it and found a float materia in his hand.

_Yuffie.._

The SeeD didn't bother thinking as he slammed the materia into his gunblade's second materia slot, which activated and stopped his descent. He glided up quickly, casting 'stop' on the clock face as he did.

The Phantom was waiting for him, and the two faced off, both having gained more respect for the other in the last few minutes. Leon swung his blade out and dove for the heartless as it raced towards him, claws extended.

They collided, hard.

**. o . o .**

The abandoned house in the third district was hardly abandoned while a group waited for Leon's return. Aerith was unconsciously unbraiding and re-braiding her hair, watching out the window; Yuffie paced back and forth around the room while Cid continuously told her not to. She sat down grumpily and kicked at the table in front of her. Donald muttered curses under his breath and Goofy stared off into space, thinking. On the bed sat Kairi, slightly confused as to what was going on. Sora leaned against the wall, tapping his keyblade on the floor.

"How long has it been?" Cid grumbled. Aerith sighed and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Hour and a half, three minutes more than the last time you asked…"

Cid made a face and grumbled to himself.

"Maybe we should go look for him?" Sora said, tapping the keyblade harder on the floor.

"…Well…that might not be-" Aerith was cut off as the door suddenly opened. Everyone looked as a dark hooded figure floated in the doorway.

They all watched in suspense for a moment. Sora was the first to act, charging at the door, but was stopped by Yuffe grabbing him by the hood.

The empty cloak was flung onto the table as the man who had held it stepped wearily into the room.

Yuffie glared. "That wasn't funny…"

The look he shot back told her it wasn't meant to be, but the look quickly turned to surprise as he was tackled by the rest of the group, yelling in pain as he landed on his injured shoulder. The SeeD managed to get out from under the pile while they continued to yell at him and stood as dignified as he could, brushing himself off.

Aerith smiled. "You're back in one piece."

The SeeD grimaced. "Mostly," he said as he removed his jacket, revealing his badly ripped-up torso. Aerith bit back a gasp at the extent of the damage and helped him get his shirt off while Yuffie brought an armful of potions.

While Aerith tended to his wounds, Leon tossed Yuffie her float materia. "Thanks."

The ninja pocketed the ball and sniffed indignantly. "I don't know what you're talking about, and you'd better not ever take one on my materia without asking again!"

The SeeD grinned slightly and looked around the room, focusing the Keybearer. "When did you get here?"

Sora looked around the room. "Uh, I've been here the whole time…"

Leon held back a grimace. "I mean when did you get back in town?"

"Oh," Sora said sheepishly.

The boy was obviously flustered about something. Leon took a guess and glanced at the new girl sitting on the bed, who seemed suddenly embarrassed for being noticed.

"That's Kairi," Sora said, failing to hide a grin. "She's the one of the friends I've been looking for. I found her on a world called Hollow Bastion," he explained. "We just got back a little bit ago."

Leon looked up at his friends, who seemed to be thinking the same as he was.

"I have to go back…" the young man said, nodding to Goofy and Donald. "We just wanted to make sure you got back okay first…"

Leon made a face, but stifled it quickly. "Thanks…"

The boy beamed, then looked at his friends. "Let's go."

He and Kairi looked at each other for a moment, then the boy gave a thumbs-up and ran out the door.

Leon looked at Kairi again, then Aerith. "Where's she staying? We need to go…"

"The Fairy Godmother and Merlin said they'd look after her."

"Go where?" Kairi spoke up. Aerith finished her healing the SeeD, who stood, and looked at the girl.

"Back to Hollow Bastion."

**. o . o .**

Cloud walked slowly into the sandy ring of the coliseum, noting the purple sky above him. The atmosphere in the arena had been tense the last day, and the regular crowd all seemed to be home, as if unnerved. Cloud knew what was coming, he knew something was different since Leon's trial in wonderland.

The blonde man stopped in the center of the sand pit and waited, knowing he would come. A few black feathers were floating in the air. As they touched the ground, Sephiroth appeared. The older man smiled, "Hello Cloud."

The blonde man said nothing, reading his blade. The older man smiled further, also drawing his blade. Both men rushed each other at the same moment.

**. o . o .**

The Ragnarok sped silently through gummi space, its crew just as silent. They spent most of the trip occupied with their own thoughts of returning to their home world.

Oddly, it was Leon who broke the silence as he turned to Aerith. "What's with you and Cloud?"

Aerith shifted. "I... don't think he was ready to talk to me…"

Leon leaned back in his chair. "So you do know each other."

"Yes…" The girl looked at him suddenly. "Wait, you know him?"

Leon frowned. "I've been training with him at the Coliseum since I started going there… Didn't you see him there before?"

Aerith shook her head, "I've only been there once. Yuffie kept telling me I wouldn't like it…"

Both looked at Yuffie, who grinned sheepishly once and then fled. Aerith shrugged at the irritated SeeD and went back to her console.

**. o . o .**

Cloud lunged at the old man again, who backed up a step. The Ex-general leapt into the air and smiled down at Cloud, blade held out. The younger man grimaced and popped his float materia in, then leapt at the older man, swords meeting. They broke apart a few moments later, Cloud panting as Sephiroth glided backwards, grinning still. "Follow me." Swirling darkness started to form around him. "I'm sure you won't want to miss this." The Ex-General started to disappear as his smile deepened. Cloud hesitated as the swirl started to diminish, then leapt after the disappearing man.

**. o . o .**

Leon stepped away from the Ragnarok once they had landed, gunblade out and searched for heartless. None met his gaze for the moment, and he looked around the area.

They had landed by the rising falls, which as easy enough to hide in, but close to the castle. The SeeD thought a moment about having finally returned home, but shook the thoughts away as the others walked out of the ship.

"Anything out here?" Aerith asked, coming up beside Leon.

"…No, Sora must have passed through here already."

The flower girl nodded and looked at her friends, "Let's go then."

**. o . o .**

Leon finished off the shadow in front of him as Cid took out the last Dark ball of the group. Aerith tended to the group's injuries as Leon surveyed the area. They were on one the balconies of the castle, working their way to the door around the bend.

"Whoever designed this thing was an idiot," Yuffie grumbled while she looked over the edge of the balcony. "What's down there?"

"Waterways…" Leon grumbled, giving her a warning look until she retreated from the edge.

"Waterways, huh? So you wouldn't get killed if you fell?"

Leon shrugged. "Probably not…I wouldn't jump down there anyway…" The SeeD continued towards the next door, failing to see the wyvern as it launched itself at him. He dodged, but lost his footing and went over the side, plummeting towards the waterways he just spoke of.

**. o . o .**

Leon woke after an unknown amount of time, face up on a ledge of the waterway. He coughed, levering himself up on an elbow. He heard a growl and looked up, coming face to face with a giant hairy behemoth.

"Beast?"

The creature nodded. "Leon."

Leon stood carefully, testing his legs. "Your world was destroyed. How did you survive?"

Beast snorted. "I don't know… I just… did. Belle is here."

"The Phantom brought her here," Leon said, retrieving his gunblade.

Beast nodded. "Let's go."

The SeeD looked around and started in one direction. After a while of wandering, they were clearly lost. He tried to backtrack, but found himself in a dead end. He looked at Beast, who nodded at him walking to the wall, facing it.

"BEAST SMASH!" The monster smashed into the wall, completely taking it down. The SeeD blinked at the hole in the wall, then shrugged.

"That'll make this easier…"

**. o . o .**

Leon and Beast continued through the waterway, smashing any dead ends they came across. They stopped in front of another wall blocking their way. Beast prepared to smash his way through, when the SeeD held up a hand.

"Hold on…" he put his ear to the wall. He heard a clinking sound, "I think this is it…"

Beast nodded and launched himself at the wall as soon as Leon got out of the way. The SeeD heard a startled cry from the next room, and jumped over the rubble into the room, gunblade drawn.

In the next room he found a young man chained to the wall, unhappily eyeing Beast.

Leon raised an eyebrow "Who are you?"

"I'm Prince Philippe," the young man said, the other two stared at him blankly.

"Prince Philippe? From the neighboring country?" Leon blinked,

"What are you doing here?"

"I was captured by Maleficent when I went to rescue Aurora…"

Beast grunted, "Who's Aurora?"

Leon took out the lock pick Yuffie had given him and set to unlock the prince's shackles. "She's one of the princesses of heart," he explained as he freed the younger man. "Belle is one too."

That seemed to be enough for the Beast. "Let's go then."

**. o . o .**

Cid held a hand out as the group of three heard a crashing down the hall. He, Yuffie and Aerith had frantically gone down the levels of the castle, looking for Leon after his fall. They had been swarmed by heartless every step of the way.

The astronaut crept along the hall, finally peeking around the corner, his head jerked back as a darkball came flying at him. The heartless smashed into wall beyond them and dissipated as the girls rushed to their older friend's side.

"Are you okay?" Aerith asked.

The astronaut waved her off. "I'm fine, go see if Leon's okay,"

"Leon!"

Cid grinned and motioned around the corner.

**. o . o .**

Prince Philippe, to his credit, wasn't faring too badly. Leon only had to pull him out of a pile of heartless twice now as they worked their way up the castle, heartless at every step. The boy had talent and training. Philippe handled the sword they have found in the dungeon's armory easily, but was inexperienced; Leon had to bark at him to watch his back often.

Beast roared as a group of shadows latched onto his back, digging their wispy claws into him. Leon rushed to his side and swung carefully, launching the first shadow he hit past the corner they were coming to. He struck the remaining two off, which landing on Philippe's waiting sword.

The SeeD held back a smirk at the rapid improvement the boy was showing in these few hours and turned to see if Beast was okay. He turned in time to see Aerith and Yuffie jumping at him, and he went down with a yelp hitting his still sore shoulder again.

"How could you scare us like that, AGAIN?"

"What's wrong with you!"

Leon managed to slide himself out from under the irate girls as Aerith glared further at him.

"I can't believe you'd do that!"

The SeeD made a face. "I assure you I didn't fall five stories to only scare you…"

Aerith stopped glaring and giggled. "Well, I guess that makes sense."

"Who's your friends?" Cid queried once the ninja and flower girl had backed away from the SeeD. Leon looked over at his companions, who had held back, fearing the girls' wrath.

"This is Beast and Philippe, they're both here to rescue a princess of heart…"

Aerith nodded, "That's how you got here, Beast?"

The monster shrugged, but grumbled, "I don't really know… Let's just get moving."

Yuffie started dancing from one foot to another, "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this place?"

"It is the Heartless' stronghold…" Cid grumbled. The ninja sighed loudly.

"No, I mean right here…"

Leon looked around, seeing no heartless and shrugged. "I don't see anyth-"

Before he could finish the sentence, the wall behind him exploded and a huge figure crashed into the hall. Leon turned and saw a huge, muscle-bound woman that appeared to have been zombified. The woman stood nearly twice Leon's height, her black dress barely covered her pale skin adorned in tattoos above the waist and sharp, black wings came from her back. She looked around the room, and focused on Leon.

"SeeD!" she bellowed.

Leon finally blinked the dazed expression from his face, remembering the last time he saw this woman, and what she had done to cause their last confrontation. He swung Lionheart in front of him and charged. Before he landed his first hit, however, the zombie roared again.

"SeeD!"

Leon found himself in the middle of a Flare spell. Before he could throw off the effects and attack again, the sorceress bellowed again and cast Earthquake, dropping him to the floor. Leon tried to get to his feet as the spell progressed, but the broken floor exploded upward, catching him on head and dazing him.

Leon felt a hairy paw lift him as he heard Aerith scream at them to run.

**. o . o .**

"What the #&0# was that?" Cid growled after they had managed to outrun the enraged sorceress, holing up in a darkened ballroom. Aerith finished healing Leon as the astronaut spoke.

"Sorceress Adel.." the SeeD answered, "Well, Former Sorceress Adel…"

"You two seemed to know each other," Yuffie pointed out.

Leon shrugged. "We've met."

"Met?" the ninja raised an eyebrow.

Leon scowled. "I don't know who zombied her, but I made it so they would have to."

No one questioned that further.

"Now what? Cid grumbled, looking around the room.

Leon stood up looking around. The darkened room was silent, but Leon had the feeling someone was watching them. The SeeD continued into the room, thinking he heard something. He strained his hearing, and identified the noise as purring. Confused, he continued, and found a throne at the end of the room, and Sephiroth seated in it.

The silver-haired man grinned at him, and continued petting the black and white cat in his lap. Figaro purred contently, but Leon suspected something was different with the older man.

"Leonhart," the ex-general grinned, "come to help me?"

Warning bells sounded off in Leon's head. Sephiroth never called him by his real name. Cloud had constantly warned Leon about messing in Sephiroth's business; the man may have helped him out before, but at some point, the murderous insanity would come back to him, and no prior alliances would save the SeeD from the older man's wrath.

"Help you?" The SeeD quickly glanced back, noticing his friends had held back, assuming that Leon and Sephiroth were still on friendly terms.

Sephiroth stood, reaching into a pocket within his coat. "Keyholes, Princesses of Heart, Hah!" He held out a dark-colored materia Leon didn't recognize. "I'll show them how to destroy a world…"

Leon found Aerith suddenly at his side, holding up the Holy materia Leon had borrowed earlier. Sephiroth looked at the girl and her materia and smiled, putting the black ball back into his pocket. He drew Masamune and took a step towards her.

Leon was instantly blocking his path, gunblade out. He only had a vague idea of what was going on, but he knew enough of what the Holy materia to worry about the Black materia's power. He also knew the look the older man had been giving Aerith, and didn't intend to let him near her.

Sephiroth slashed his blade towards the SeeD, who blocked. He pressed in, larger blade giving him the advantage as the younger man struggled to block his continuous assault. Leon couldn't find an opening in the silver-haired man's attack, and was stunned by the prowess the older man was showing. He hadn't been this good the other times they had fought.

The Ex-general slammed his booted foot into Leon's chest and sent him flying. Suddenly the path between him and Aerith became clear, and he advanced, grinning.

"NO!"

Cloud charged into the room, pushing past the group at the door, knocking Philippe down and charged past Leon and Aerith, slamming his sword into Masamune with all his strength.

Sephiroth halted, but seemed unconcerned. "We just have to stop meeting like this…" Cloud grimaced and launched into an attack as Aerith got Leon to his feet.

Meanwhile, Philippe had got up from where he had fallen, halfway out of the door. Down the hall, he saw what appeared to be a black shadow slinking down the stairway and down the hall, away from the ballroom. The prince drew his sword and followed quietly.

**. o . o .**

Leon helped Cloud push Sephiroth further towards the back the room, although the SeeD commander had the feeling the older man was holding back. Sephiroth grinned and slashed forward, meeting sword and gunblade. He quickly reversed and brought his large blade around, meaning to catch both men in the back. Cloud flattened to the ground and Leon leapt over the blade, coming down on the ex-general pulling his weapon's trigger as he did.

The blade's attack had easily been deflected, but the bullet went straight for the man's chest. Leon had thought for a moment it would hit, but found Sephiroth had disappeared in a swirl of black smoke and feathers, appearing behind both men an instant later.

Fortunately, Cloud had seen this trick before and was already swinging as Sephiroth reappeared. The silver-haired man blocked and gave ground again, only this time moving towards the others in the room.

Leon understood the danger of this and dove under another swing from Masamune, rolling to his feet behind their attacker's back. The SeeD thought the older man would jump away, but found he stayed where he was, as if unaware Leon was there.

Not one to miss such an opportunity, Leon swung, but found Sephiroth had anticipated him and swung Masamune back, blocking him. The incredibly long blade then started moving so fast Leon could barely keep up with it as the older man struck back and forth between his opponents.

Leon was waiting for another chance to fire his gunblade at the man, trying to get a clear shot. He saw a chance as Sephiroth hesitated on a swing towards him when he heard a deafening roar from beyond the room.

**. o . o .**

Philippe knew of Maleficent's dark talents before he had charged the castle, and knew the shadowy form he now followed was indeed the witch. She must have been weakened from an earlier battle. He saw the shadow slipping through a doorway and followed.

He stepped out onto a balcony to find the shadow cornered. But now it was growing and changing shape, and soon solidified in the form of a black dragon. Maleficent wasted no time in pressing her attack.

The prince reacted quickly, dodging the fire breath and the tail swipe that followed. He leaped forward and sliced down on the dragon's flank, causing her to roar loudly.

He heard one of the women Leon traveled with call out his name frantically as he managed to avoid the dragon's snapping teeth. He didn't dare break his concentration to call back to her as a clawed hand slammed down at him.

**. o . o .**

Leon heard Yuffie call the prince's name as Sephiroth leapt back suddenly, bowling Leon over. The SeeD bit back a cry as the older man stamped his booted foot over his chest and the hand holding his gunblade at the same time. Cloud was on him fast, not giving him the chance to strike down on his friend.

"Philippe's fighting a dragon!" Yuffie cried, running back into the room. Beast growled and bolted out of the room, happy to finally be of use in a fight as he went to help the prince. Yuffie and Cid followed the burly monster as Aerith hung back, anxiously waiting to heal either of her friends as Sephiroth continued his attack.

Leon tried to get out from under the ex-general's feet, the man's full weight between his chest and wrist. Sephiroth hardly seemed to notice the struggling man under him as he continued to block Cloud's frenzied attack, knowing he would tire eventually.

Cloud too knew he couldn't continue slashing at the older man's head, but took advantage of Sephiroth's uneven perch on Leon, swinging as hard as he could. The ex-general stumbled slightly, pausing only to dig his feet further into the man under him. The pause was long enough for Cloud, who launched himself bodily at his opponent, knocking them both down and off Leon.

Leon scrambled to his feet, hearing another roar and looked over his shoulder, finding that only Aerith remained in the room. He looked back at Cloud and Sephiroth who had untangled and were back on their feet.

"Leon, go!" Cloud called, holding his sword up defensively, "Take Aerith!"

The SeeD looked at Aerith, who nodded. "He knows what he's doing."

**. o . o .**

The SeeD and flower girl charged towards the dragon, leaving Cloud and Sephiroth to face off.

Leon charged onto the wide balcony just in time to dodge the flying form of Philippe, who had been thrown back by the dragon. The commander side-stepped the flying boy and caught him by the collar. They both charged at the dragon as Beast and Cid jumped away from another blast of flames the dragon released which trapped them against the ledge of the balcony.

Yuffie went to cast ice in the flames direction, but the dragon had gotten wise to the tactic and swung her tail at the ninja, sending her into a wall. Leon moved in front of the ninja as Aerith went to her aid. Philippe ducked as the tail came back his way, glowering at the dragon as he did. She faced the prince now, and Philippe let out a roar as he heaved his sword at the dragon, pointing at her heart.

The sword found its mark and the resulting roar nearly took all the fighters off their feet. The dragon thrashed as its weakened body began to topple over the side of the balcony.

Philippe jumped onto the dragon, pulled his sword free, and kicked off, sending the monster tumbling down into the water below.

Leon came up to Philippe as he peered over the edge. Aerith had already begun healing the others.

"She's probably not dead…" the prince said.

Leon shrugged. "Probably, but she's out of the picture for a while…" The SeeD blinked and realized Cloud was still fighting Sephiroth. He ran for the ballroom.

When the SeeD arrived, he found the room unoccupied. He looked around frantically for either combatant, and found no trace of either.

"Well?" Yuffie asked as she walked in.

Leon shrugged, "They're not here…"

Cid spit out his toothpick and replace it with a cigar, ignoring the look Aerith gave him, "Well, let's keep moving. The kid can take care of himself, and those princesses have to be around here somewhere."

Leon frowned, but nodded. For now, Cloud was on his own.

**To be continued...**

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Like it? I hope. Well folks, the next one is the last in this series. As for what happens next, I'm more than likely going to make a second series for Kingdom Hearts 2. Also, I'm going to go through and reformat this story so all the chapters are uniform.

Thanks as usual go to my editor, incidentally, saving for a wedding is HARD.

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Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Battle for Hallow Bastion part two…Electric Boogaloo**


	13. Episode 13

Well, this is it, the finale of the series. I may not have been the most frequent poster, but damn it, it is over. I hope you've all enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed making it.

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The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie: Episode #13:

The Battle of Hallow Bastion, part 2 .o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o..o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Leon wasn't happy.

He wanted to search the castle for Cloud, but, as Aerith had pointed out, they needed to find the last of the Ansem reports and protect the princesses, whom they had found already rescued by Sora. So here they were, doing research in the library. Beast was on the upper balcony with Belle.

Sora was taking a breather in the Chapel with the other princesses and Philip, who had too reunited with his princess, Aurora. They still had to find the keyhole and seal it, but had taken a hard path up to the chapel.

So the SeeD searched for suspicious-looking books on the shelves where something might be hidden. Aerith had already found two of the reports, and along with Sora's, they had all but one.

"I found it!!" Yuffie came barreling over to Aerith, a single, worn-looking sheet flapping in her hand.

Aerith took it from her and placed it with the other pages she was sorting through. After a moment of shuffling, she had them in order and read them through.

"Well? What does it say?!" Yuffie hopped up and down, but stopped at the face Aerith made.

"What?" Leon asked. She handed him the papers. He took them and read through, his frown turning into a scowl and his fist tightening on the pages.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Yuffie shouted. Leon glared at her, and she backed up a step.

"King Ansem betrayed us to the Heartless…." Aerith said quietly.

"What!?" Yuffie took the papers from Leon's hands and read through them quickly.

"How can this be?" Aerith looked crestfallen and stared blankly at the papers on the desk.

Leon grimaced, and offered the only conclusion he could come up with. "Their discovery must have been too much for him, and he lost it."

Yuffie put the papers down and wore a scowl that matched one of Leon's best. She kicked the wall angrily. No one chastised her outburst for once.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy came in moments later, and Aerith shared what they had learned from the Ansem reports. Sora looked uncharacteristically glum at the news, giving the Keyblade a half-hearted swing. After a few moments, he seemed to find some resolve and looked at the sullen group.

"We need to keep going," Sora said, indicating the hall beyond the library.

Leon nodded. "We'll go with you." Sora seemed pleased at this idea, and the group gathered their things. The SeeD looked over to Beast and Belle, who had been looking down at the group from the balcony.

"Beast, take Belle to the chapel with the other princesses and watch them. We'll get Sora to the keyhole." The former prince nodded and started leading Belle away as she bade the others good luck.

The group was soon charging through the hallways, wiping out any heartless who wandered their way. Leon was mildly impressed with how far along Sora had come with his skill. He was handling himself much better, not only with the keyblade, but he kept a better mind on what his allies were doing and worked along with them smoothly.

The SeeD was cut off abruptly from his musings as a screech echoed down the hallway behind them. He and the others looked back as the zombified Adel turned the corner. There was a brief pause in the room, then the undead sorceress charged their way.

"SeeeeD…"

Leon grit his teeth angrily as the sorceress barreled their way. "Keep going! We'll take her," he barked at Sora, Donald and Goofy. Sora hesitated, but Donald called him along as he and Goofy started off, and the boy followed. The SeeD turned back toward his charging enemy, jaw set and gunblade out.

The undead sorceress roared and charged the group furiously. She slashed a clawed hand at Leon, who dodged and swung down on her arm. She roared again, reeling back, then recovered and cast 'Flare' on Leon, staggering him as a wave of magic and pain encased him. As he recovered, Yuffie launched a shuriken at the monster, which imbedded itself in her torso as Cid stabbed his lance into her chest. It only seemed to slow her.

Cid and Yuffie backed away as Leon launched a 'Firaga' at Adel, hitting her in the chest. She shrieked and cast 'Earthquake'. The floor heaved and knocked the three fighters off their feet. Leon felt a 'Cure 2' hit him and saw another shuriken stick into Adel as Yuffie and Aerith backed him up.

Adel let out another roar and backed up a step, preparing to retreat. However, Leon was up at that point and the sorceress glared furiously at him. She turned back, the madness in her eyes turning briefly to clarity.

"SeeD!!!!!" she bellowed and swung a claw hard at Leon. He dodged the brunt of the attack but still got caught in the leg. He bit down on his lip and stood again. Having enough of these encounters, he decided to end the game.

He called into the dark recesses of his mind that housed his GFs. After a few moments, he felt a response, and heard a few startled gasps as Bahumut swooped down the corridor and hit Adel with a 'Mega Flare', blasting the sorceress through the hole it created in the floor.

Once the dust had cleared, Leon looked back at his friends. They stared at the remains of the hallway and looked back at the SeeD, who was downing a high potion casually as if nothing had happened.

"Jeez, Leon, why don't you just bring the whole castle down on our heads?" Yuffie huffed while she gingerly retrieved her shuriken from the edge of the pit.

"…Whatever."

**. o . o .**

A while later, after searching the upper levels of the castle for signs of the Keybearer or the keyhole, they found a strange chamber above the main rooms. Entering, Leon and the others came upon the swirling keyhole. Yuffie put her ear close to the hole and nodded.

"Yep, they're in there."

There were a few voices, then the sound of exploding magic and the clang of metallic weapons. Then there was a loud roar, then a thundering boom as something large fell. A moment later, a shape could be seen emerging from the portal.

"Sora, you did it," said Leon.

Sora stepped out of the keyhole and looked at them sullenly. "Once I seal this hole, we may never see each other again…"

Leon sighed and looked a the boy, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." _I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to…_

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith added.

Yuffie looked over her shoulder and grinned, "Besides, I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

Leon grinned to himself as Donald and Goofy called from the portal. Sora looked over to his allies, then back to Leon and his group.

"Sora…good luck."

The boy nodded and ran back towards the keyhole. Leon, Aerith and Yuffie watched the Keybearer walk back into the portal to his final trial. Aerith stared a moment after them and sighed sadly.

"Do you think we'll see them again?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know, but, I know they'll finish this."

Yuffie blinked at him. "What is this? Leon you're being optimistic!" the ninja was treated to a glare when the group heard the clang of metal on metal coming their way from the hall outside.

Leon looked over the balcony to the floor below in time to see Cloud being backed into the room by Sephiroth, whose attacks were coming almost too swiftly to bee seen. The younger man was holding off the barrage, but was losing ground and in danger of being pinned against the back wall.

Readying his gunblade and without a word, Leon leapt off the balcony of the platform and landed nearly on top of Sephiroth. The SeeD seemed to have surprised the older man, grazing his arm with the tip of his gunblade and drawing blood.

The Ex-General merely raised an eyebrow at Leon's appearance. "Impressive, SeeD, and you even had enough sense to head for the keyhole."

Leon glared and dodged a swing Sephiroth likely intended as revenge for his bloodied arm. "You're too late, Sora's already sealed it."

The Ex-General didn't seem too upset as he struck out again at the SeeD then at Cloud as he tried to sneak a hit on the older man. "Oh, but the portal is open, isn't it?"

The silver-haired man jumped back, disengaging himself from the fight. He then nimbly leapt up a pillar to the railing of the platform and was on before either man could stop him.

"NO!" Cloud shouted as he and Leon scrambled up the stairs towards the girls as Sephiroth faced them. Both Yuffie and Aerith backed up, reading their weapons hastily, but the son of Jenova walked past them without so much as a glance and stopped by the portal.

"The child may have closed the world off, but this dark portal still serves other purposes," Sephiroth grinned as he stuck a hand into the opening. Cloud rushed the man, expecting trouble, but didn't reach him before an inhuman shriek rattled the stained glass windows in the room.

Sephiroth grinned at them. "Well, that should make things more interesting." He charged towards Leon, who was standing in front of the girls. The white-haired man side-stepped the gunblade swung his way and caught the SeeD's side with his elbow, taking him off-balance. Leon crashed into Aerith, causing them both to tumble to the floor.

The ex-general intended to cut down at least one of them, but was caught off guard by a charge from Cloud and knocked over the railing. The younger man was seeing red at this point, and jumped off the balcony to meet Sephiroth as he fell.

The older man was already on his feet and laughing to himself as he ran out of the room.

"Come back, you coward!!" The SOLDIER was running the second he landed, chasing after Sephiroth. Another shriek shook the room from the swirling portal.

Yuffie glowered after the blond swordsman as he followed after Sephiorth. "Real nice. I'm sure we'll be fine, thanks!"

Leon managed to untangle himself from Aerith as a huge, dark shape slid out of the portal.

"What the hell is that?!" Yuffie shouted as it came into full view. Leon's eyes widened at the sight of the creature. He had seen it before.

The monster stood on four feet and looked almost like a metallic cat. At its head sprouted a human-shaped torso, arms and a second head. The upper part of the monster was winged and had a wicked air of intelligence. Omega Weapon was easily the most deadly opponent Leon had ever faced. The SeeD had barely survived their first encounter, and couldn't fathom how or why it was here now.

He didn't think too hard about it as he charged wildly at it to keep it busy while the others retreated. "Get out of here!" the SeeD shouted at his companions, "Now!"

The others didn't question him, as his tone bordered on fear, something they were not used to hearing from him. In truth, Leon was afraid Omega Weapon would get a hold of one of the girls or Cid before he could get its attention.

It bellowed and swung at him with the sword held in its human hands and, moving too quick for him to dodge, sliced deep into the SeeD's chest. Leon flew back into the platform's rail. He heard a loud crack as he connected with the stone. Hoping it was just the railing and not his ribs, he got to his feet and began summoning.

The monster seemed to be regarding him as he heard his call answered. It didn't seem too concerned when Bahamut swooped in and blasted it. When the light of the Mega Flare faded, Leon was not surprised to see it had had little effect.

Omega Weapon looked at Leon, as if indicating it was his turn, and lifted one of its huge paws to attack. This time, the blow narrowly missed. Leon thought he had gotten lucky, but found that instead it had a spell sent his way. A shadowy figure emerged from a puff of dark smoke in front of him. Leon tried to dodge as the image of Death swung his scythe at him, but he was caught by the spell, the magical blade slashing into his chest.

The SeeD's body went numb, and he saw himself collapse to the floor before everything went dark.

**. o . o .**

Yuffie ran as fast as she could back to the chapel to get Beast and Philip, figuring whatever that monster had been, if the whole group tackled it, they could beat it down. It took her a few moments of running to realize Aerith was no longer following. The older girl was looking back the way they came.

"Aerith, come on! We need to get help!" The ninja stamped her feet impatiently.

"Get the others. I'm going back."

"What?!" Cid shouted and moved to grab Aerith's arm, but stopped short at the look on the girl's face.

"Go get the others, and hurry." Yuffie and Cid didn't question her further as Aerith undid part of her braid, pulling a glowing green and white Materia from her bow. The ninja and astronaut only hesitated a moment longer before running towards the chapel again.

**. o . o .**

Aerith reached the hall in time to see Leon slump to the ground. She gasped, only to find that she had gotten the attention of Omega Weapon. It roared and kicked Leon's limp body away, then began stalking toward her.

The flower girl squared her shoulders and moved towards the approaching monster, materia held in front of her. Only a few feet away from her, Omega Weapon stopped and reared back, eyes now fixed on the Holy Materia.

Aerith continued toward the creature as she heard the rest of the group reach them. A look of calm came over her as she closed her eyes and began whispering. The materia glowed brighter, and the monster screeched, jerking back from the light.

The girl pressed on, and the materia's light brightened, causing Omega to shriek louder. It backed away, slashing feebly at the girl attacking it and let out a piercing screech at the Holy Materia's blinding brightness.

**. o . o .**

A few moments later, Yuffie rubbed the spots out of her eyes to see Aerith administering a Phoenix Down to Leon. The flower girl quickly healed the dark gash down the SeeD's chest as he started to come around.

Leon's eyes opened slowly, but he sat up quickly, looking for his gunblade and struggling to get to his feet.

"What happened? Where is it?" he demanded. He stopped as he looked at the others, who were still staring wide-eyed at Aerith and the smoking spot a little further away from her.

Aerith blinked at them. "What?" The others continued to gape.

Leon frowned. "What happened?"

"Aerith sent that thing back to the life stream!"

Leon raised an eyebrow and looked at his younger friend, who was tucking her materia back into her bow. "Oh it was nothing…"

"Anyway, we need to find Cloud before he gets himself killed!" Yuffie demanded, hoping up and down impatiently.

Leon picked up his gunblade from where it had fallen and looked at Aerith, nodding his thanks and turned to Yuffie. "You're right. Let's go."

**. o . o .**

After wandering the labyrinthine corridors for what seemed like hours, Leon was stopped by a cry from Yuffie, who was looking out a window. Outside, on the cliffs near the castle wall, they could see Cloud and Sephiroth leaping at each other, swords clashing.

The SeeD, followed by Aerith, Yuffie and Cid, ran down the hall until they found a door leading out to a balcony. Two stories down from them, Cloud and Sephiroth were now perched on top of a rock outcropping. The two men had just kicked away from each other as the group above them charged onto the balcony. Sephiroth grinned merrily and looked up a the startled group.

"How fortunate. You have the best seats in the house for the show!" He looked back to Cloud, who hadn't taken his eyes off the older man.

"Get out of here!" Cloud shouted up at them as he took a swing at Sephiroth. The older man took advantage of the distraction to parry the blow and knock Cloud's sword out of his hands. The former SOLDIER stumbled to the ground, his blade landing out of reach.

"They're not going anywhere. In fact, I'm sure Leonhart is already risking life and limb to reach us."

Cloud looked up, and was horrified to find the ex-general was indeed correct as Leon was climbing onto the ledge to drop down closer to them.

"Now, Cloud," Sephiroth said, reaching into his coat. "I'm going to take away everything you love. Again." His hand brought out the black materia and raised it to the sky. The dark orb began to pulse with energy.

The SeeD watched the scene below as he looked for the best way down. There was another balcony one floor down which could get him closer to the rocks. Just as he was preparing to jump, a hand gripped his wrist, pulling him back.

"Leon, look!"

The SeeD followed Aerith's pointing finger up to another part of the castle. In the window of one of the high towers, a heavily damaged but still moving Adel glared down at him.

"S-SeeeeeeD…." he heard her bellow weakly as she leaped from the window. Leon watched her drop several stories to the rocks below, landing close enough to Cloud and Sephiroth that the son of Jenova turned his head to watch her body hit the ground. Cloud took the opportunity to roll toward his weapon. Then she got back up.

"S-S…" the undead sorceress grunted, then charged forward. Both men readied themselves for this new threat, Cloud by lifting his buster sword to defend, Sephiroth by grinning smugly and raising his right hand to cast a spell, the black materia still held aloft in his left. Neither was prepared for her to barrel through them without slowing. Before either could react, all three went over the side of the outcropping and plummeted toward the Rising Falls.

Leon was trying to pull his hand free of Aerith's when someone else pushed him aside and dove over the edge. The SeeD watched helplessly as Cid plunged into the falls after the others.

The astronaut got within reach of Cloud and grabbed the younger man's collar as he embedded his lance into the castle wall. The lance bent, but held.

Below them, Sephiroth and Adel both disappeared into the falls.

Relaxing, Leon found there were four sets of hands holding him back, as Aerith, Yuffie, Beast and Belle clung to him. "I'm not going to jump. Let go."

The Seed pulled himself onto the balcony again, turning to the others, he found them all staring at the sky. He looked up to see a massive meteor shower over their heads.

It took the SeeD a moment to realize what was happening. The stars were returning. They all stared transfixed as the sky brightened with the twinkling lights.

"Sora did it!" Yuffie cried, hopping on one foot. "The worlds are being restored!"

Cheering drowned out the sound of the falls for a few moments as the cosmos realigned themselves.

**. o . o .**

Later, in the observatory, as the last of the stars were falling back into place, Aerith, Yuffie and Leon waited. As the glow started to dim outside, Cid opened the door, leading Cloud in.

The SOLDIER shuffled slowly into the room, head bent. He found Aerith was staring up at him a few moments later and started.

"Hey," Aerith smiled.

"Uh…hey," Cloud mumbled. "I….I'm sorry."

Aerith just smiled at him as they heard someone stamp their feet. Yuffie jumped up and down a few times.

"Would you cut it out Cloud?! You're acting like Leon!" The ninja turned to receive her expected glare, but instead found an empty spot where Leon had just been.

"What? Where did he go?" Yuffie turned back to the others, and found Aerith frowning.

"He won't be back for a while…."

**. o . o .**

Leon stood in a darkened flower field, waiting. He had been there for over an hour, and the last of the stars had gone back to their places long ago. Darkness was all that greeted him now. No more falling stars. Nothing.

The SeeD sat down after a few more moments, a dull ache in his chest. He sat for another hour, waiting, and the ache grew until it was unbearable. He looked to the sky again, despair threatening to overwhelm him, when he saw a single shooting star fly overhead.

He sat back, staring at where the star had gone. The ache melted to a cold determination, and the SeeD swore he would never get as close to giving up as he nearly had. There was a lot of work waiting to be done when he went back, but for tonight, he would stay here and wait.

**End of The Adventures of Leon and Yuffie**

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Thanks go to my Editor, this story saw our engagement, marriage and first anniversary (which shows you how long it took). I couldn't have possibly gotten through this thing without him. And thank you, readers, for your support.

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The bubbling water of the Rising Falls roared on as the moon rose overhead. From the dark waters an object rose.

A silver-haired head rose from the water, and Sephrioth bared his teeth in a grin.

"I'll be back!"

*** Seriously, if anyone knows where that last Sephiroth joke came from, I'll freaking write you into the next series. Speaking of which, great lengths have already been made towards the next series: The Returners, which will cover the events of Kingdom Hearts II.

Now, I know what you're thinking "a twelve-chapter long story took you _four years _to complete, why should I even bother?" Because my editor came up with a brilliant idea:

The story itself will be in two parts, I won't post anything until the entire first part is done. So you will get monthly installments like clock work. Then, once the second part is finished, you'll get the same thing.

So keep an eye out for The Returners, by yours truly. Thank you all for reading and an extra thank you to those who reviewed and those who kept an eye on the story…which nearly took half a decade to write :S

Leon and Yuffie will return in:

**The Returners **


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